Workers being 'blackmailed' to decentralise, says Fine Gael

Government Departments are attempting to "blackmail civil servants into decentralising", a Fine Gael frontbencher has claimed.

Mr Billy Timmins, the party's defence spokesman, said the "punishment" for civil servants who did not wish to move was that "if you won't decentralise, you won't get the promotion".

He was commenting after Government figures showed that some 20 civil servants declined job promotions because of a requirement to sign an agreement to decentralise.

Sixteen civil servants declined to move to Tullamore, Co Offaly, Department of Finance figures show, but the Minister, Mr Cowen, said that "those people continue to remain on the panel for further offers to other locations". Three people declined assistant principal officer positions and 13 people declined executive officer posts in the Finance Department.

A promotion to assistant principal officer to the Department of the Environment was declined because the official "opted not to sign the relevant form of undertaking", the Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, said.

He pointed out, however, that none of the appointees to three principal officer positions, six assistant principal officer posts and two higher executive officer jobs had refused to sign an agreement that they were willing to decentralise for two or three years.

Three employees in the Department of Social and Family Affairs did not apply for promotion because of the requirement to agree to relocate.

In a series of written questions to each Government Department, Mr Timmins had asked "the number of personnel who on applying for promotion in his/her Department have been required to sign an agreement that they are willing to decentralise, how many of them refused to sign the agreement; if this impacted on their promotion or otherwise".

Deputy Timmins pointed out that the agreement to decentralise stemmed not from the date of the appointment, but from the date the particular Department was scheduled to decentralise.

In a number of other Departments, civil servants awarded promotions had agreed to decentralise, including two to Killarney for the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. The Department of Agriculture is in the first phase of decentralisation and nine officers have accepted promotions on the understanding that they will have to decentralise.

Thirteen officers promoted or assigned to the Department of Education accepted decentralisation to Mullingar or Athlone as a condition of the job, while internal Department applicants were not required to sign an undertaking to agree to decentralisation.

A number of Departments are not scheduled for decentralisation and have no requirement for officials to sign an agreement.