Civil servants who are left without jobs after their offices move out of Dublin under the Government's decentralisation plan will fill vacancies as they arise subsequently, the Government has said.
Over 7,000 Civil Service jobs are to be transferred under the plan announced in late 2003, though nearly 3,000 more posts in semi-State organisations and State agencies are also to move.
However, 3,000 Dublin-based civil servants will be left surplus to requirements once the programme is completed by 2010 - a deadline four years later than that originally set by the Government.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said yesterday the surplus staff would become part of "a pool" and used to fill other jobs as they arose, adding that three in every 100 State jobs became vacant annually.
By the middle of the year, the Department of Finance believes that 1,000 posts will have been moved to 20 locations, while 29 new offices will have been occupied within 18 months.
By the end of October last year over 2,300 staff had been assigned to posts that are to be moved out of the capital, though only 60 per cent of the new staff were based in Dublin.
The Office of Public Works, which is in charge of finding new offices and getting rid of those being left vacant in Dublin, has bought, or is in the process of buying, 36 properties.
Acknowledging the delays, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen in a recent Dáil reply said most transfers now would take place in 2009, rather than in 2008, although matters outside the control of the OPW could cause delays.
One such delay could now affect the transfer of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to Knock airport, following the lodging of a planning objection.
The appeal to An Bord Pleanála against the planning permission offered by Mayo County Council has been lodged by Peter Sweetman & Associates, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin.
Mayo County Council granted planning permission to the JSL Group Ltd, Lr Salthill, Galway, to build the new offices to house the headquarters of Éamon Ó Cuív's department.
In a letter to the planning appeals board, Mr Sweetman stated that the proposed development, close to an airport runway, could not be considered sustainable development.
Workers in the offices, which are more than five miles from the nearest houses, will have to travel by car, since there is no public transport, while local roads are not suitable for cyclists or pedestrians.
Mr Ó Cuív, who acknowledged that the appeal would delay the project by at least four months, assuming it is lost, said he was disappointed with the appeal but that Mr Sweetman was "fully within his rights".
However, Mr Ó Cuiv said he was confident that the appeal would not succeed, adding that decentralisation was Government policy and that the planning appeals board had to take cognisance of that fact.
In his appeal notice, Mr Sweetman said the supply of water to the new offices was uncertain and unable to guarantee sufficient supplies for "a normal fire-fighting supply".
The offices do not comply, he claimed, with regional planning guidelines
