The first civil servants to be relocated under the Government's decentralisation plan could be in their new offices by January, the Minister for Finance has claimed.
Launching the first report by the body implementing the programme, Charlie McCreevy insisted that decentralisation would be delivered in its entirety, and that there was no question of reconsidering its scale.
The Decentralisation Implementation Group recommends that an Internet based central applications facility, which would allow civil servants to apply for decentralisation and rank their preferred locations, should be set up by the beginning of next month.
The Chairman of the group, Phil Flynn, said it was not possible to predict how many civil servants would want to move until this facility was established, but that already some locations were oversubscribed.
HSA staff against move
Meanwhile, plans to move a State agency to Thomastown in Co Kilkenny have received a serious blow.
More than four-fifths of staff working at the Health and Safety Authority say they do not want to relocate there.
In the last few weeks, staff at the HSA were surveyed about the proposed move. Ninety of the 110 workers in the Dublin headquarters said they did not want to move to Thomastown.
Just 15 said yes, two said maybe and three did not respond to the questionnaire. It is understood discussions between HSA management and staff are continuing.
