Mark Brennock
Chief Political
Correspondent
The Tánaiste has said she believes the Government will meet its public service decentralisation targets, but hinted the target could be reduced if staff resistance remains strong.
Ms Harney was speaking yesterday after a survey in her own Department showing an overwhelming majority against its planned move to Carlow. Acknowledging the poor interest in this so far, she pointed to the much higher number wishing to move elsewhere out of Dublin as a sign that the plan was likely to work.
Despite a Labour Party claim that the Government's plan was now in chaos, Ms Harney said she believed the plan to move 10,000 public servants out of Dublin would succeed in the time-frame of three years set in the recent Budget.
She said the Government intended to meet this target through a voluntary approach. "We are not even contemplating that that won't be possible. If it were the case in three years' time that we hadn't hit the 10,000 civil servants we want to move, then the Government would have to reassess that target in the light of circumstances."
While just 69 of 503 respondents to an internal survey in her Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment expressed interest in moving to Carlow, Ms Harney pointed to the survey finding that 160 other staff were willing to move to other locations identified in the decentralisation programme.
"Forty-six per cent of those who responded in my Department indicated that they wanted to leave Dublin and move to locations outside the capital."
She listed the advantages for public servants moving from Dublin which she said included cheaper housing, a better quality of life, access to education and less congestion. However, she suggested the Government might have to adopt "a carrot approach to get over the final hurdle" and meet its target.
The Minister of State responsible for the Office of Public Works, Mr Tom Parlon, issued figures yesterday confirming a strong interest by property owners and developers in supplying premises to the State for decentralised offices.
He said there had been about 700 responses to the request for proposals from interested parties for the supply of office accommodation for decentralisation to the proposed 53 locations in 25 counties.
Mr Parlon said the OPW was continuing to consider buildings and sites owned by the State and to talk to county managers about potential properties.
However, the Labour Party called on the Government to review its plans in the light of the evidence of the reluctance of civil servants to move, and to spend no money on buying or leasing buildings until this was done.
The party's environment spokesman, Mr Éamon Gilmore, said that "despite assurances given to the contrary, the signs increasingly are that this programme will not be voluntary and the civil servants will be coerced into moving out of Dublin."
He criticised Mr Parlon for addressing civil servants in a radio interview yesterday in a tone which he said suggested: "We have ways and means of making you move. There was a sinister tone to many of Minister Parlon's comments. He suggested that civil servants who moved would benefit from improved career opportunities. The clear implication is that those who refuse to move will suffer, career wise.
"Minister Parlon is planning to splurge out taxpayers' money acquiring every available square metre or office space in the favoured areas, including his own constituency. We are in danger of ending up in a situation where the OPW will have acquired spanking new office accommodation in scores of locations, with virtually nobody to work in them."