Rivalries between trade unions over promotions and prized postings are holding up the Government's decentralisation plan, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Tom Parlon has charged.
Mr Parlon, who is in charge of decentralisation, said negotiations on reforms were "going very well and could be completed soon". On Saturday, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern acknowledged that the Government had "taken too much on in one go" by declaring that it would move 10,000 civil servants out of Dublin by the end of next year.
"There are a huge amount of people who want to go, but the management of that, of who can go, what grades, and how, is a difficult exercise," he told a newspaper.
Speaking on RTE's Tubridy Tonight, the Taoiseach said that decentralisation could not be completed by 2007 - the target originally set by Charlie McCreevy when he was Minister for Finance. In reality, most State institutions abandoned the 2007 target last year, while the majority of current transfer plans are expected to conclude by the end of 2009.
However, Mr Ahern appeared to go further in his RTÉ interview when he indicated that it could take until 2012 to complete, so it is not clear now if Mr Ahern is saying that not only can the first 2007 target not be met, but also that the second unofficial one of 2009 cannot be met either. Acknowledging that the original timetable had "not made sense", Mr Parlon said: "The Taoiseach was only saying what we are all saying. So what if it takes an extra two years. It was a throwaway remark from McCreevy. Nobody intended that other than him."
He was confident that "very practical solutions" could be found to ensure that decentralisation is completed, though he said some unions are fearful of conceding ground to others.
"They are very scared that they would allow people from another union to qualify for promotion to another post. There is a lot of territoriality amongst the unions," he said.
State employees cannot transfer between the Civil Service and State agencies, such as FÁS, where workers have gone on strike in protest at the plan to move them to Birr, Co Offaly.
The Government last month scrapped its plan to transfer 100 probation officers to Navan, Co Meath, though 20 secretarial and administrative staff from the Probation and Welfare Service are to move. Denying any climbdown, Mr Parlon said the Government had promised Navan 120 jobs: "Do you think the people there care that it is probation jobs, or other jobs when it comes to cashing the cheques every week."
Meanwhile, he confirmed that Office of Public Works chairman Seán Benton, who is supposed to move to Trim, Co Meath, has insisted that he must have a Dublin office to continue to function as chairman. Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan, speaking on TV3's The Political Party, said: "You know the Taoiseach, he's very honest, he says it as he sees it, and he's obviously come to the conclusion that we bit off a lot to try and move 10,000 people very quickly."
However, Fine Gael TD, Richard Bruton said "gross incompetence and not over ambition" is "the real reason for the collapse of the Government's decentralisation programme" which had created "a shambles" out of what should have been a very successful programme.
Government digging in a Civil Service minefield: page 14
