THE RAIL Safety Commission is to be moved to Drogheda, Co Louth, instead of Ballinasloe, Co Galway, as part of changes to elements of the controversial decentralisation programme approved by the Government.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey told the Dáil in a written parliamentary reply earlier this week that an additional 20 posts in the National Roads Authority (NRA) would be established in the Co Galway town instead.
Under the original decentralisation programme for the transport sector, 90 posts in the NRA and 20 in the Rail Safety Commission were to move to Ballinasloe.
Mr Dempsey said his department was also required to transfer at least 37 posts to Drogheda.
The Minister said in his Dáil reply to Fine Gael deputy John O’Mahony that his department considered transfer of the 37 posts to Drogheda, and concluded that locating a combination of safety investigation functions and other related safety posts there “offered very good potential for operational efficiencies and value for money”.
“At its meeting on 27 May the Government agreed to my proposals to relocate the Railway Safety Commission to Drogheda instead of Ballinasloe, and relocate an additional 20 posts of the National Roads Authority to Ballinasloe in order to achieve the Government’s targets in respect of those locations,” he stated.
In a statement yesterday, the Department of Transport said the Government had agreed to relocate a combination of safety investigation functions to Drogheda in order to meet the decentralisation requirement of 37 posts.
“These functions include the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the department, the Railway Safety Commission, and the Marine Casualty Investigation Board,” it said.
Decentralisation, which was aimed at moving about 10,000 public sector staff to offices around the country, has been strongly criticised by the Opposition and trade unions, who have called for it to be reviewed.
The recent OECD report on the public sector also warned that the Government’s decentralisation plans were changing the public service landscape. “Staff will be dispersed widely, and many will be new to their departments. During interviews with the OECD, indications were that in some areas, turnover of staff who were opting not to relocate with their departments or offices could be as high as 90 per cent.”
The report warned of possible loss of expertise and knowledge in departments and State agencies.
However, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has given no public indication that the Government would change its policy on decentralisation. He said the Government agreed that decentralisation was a challenging programme, but that there had been no loss in productivity from moving elements of departments to date.
