Local authority staff, teachers, and health workers living in the capital will be able to apply for some of the 10,000 State jobs to be moved out of Dublin.
In an attempt to expand the pool of qualifying workers, the Decentralisation Implementation Group said the aim is to encourage people to relocate.
Denying that the programme is in trouble, the report said: "We believe that the overall figures for the Civil Service represent an encouraging start." It went on: "Civil servants have positive previous experiences of decentralisation while there is a long-standing tradition of transfer across the Civil Service." The low level of interest from workers in State agencies is explained by the decision of some unions to block their members from lodging applications, it said.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said it is clear that "a lot of progress" has already been made: "The Government remains determined to implement that programme as quickly as possible." Referring to the three-year target set by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, the Taoiseach said it was important "to set a challenging target".
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said it is important decentralisation is implemented as quickly as possible, though she acknowledged that the Government faces a "challenging" deadline. "I am confident that as the project takes shape it will help dispel any lingering concerns. The sheer scale of the proposal is an assurance in itself that the same opportunities for career advancement will exist within the public service, regardless of location," she said.
Fine Gael TD, Mr Richard Bruton, said the Government should redraft the plan in line with the National Spatial Strategy. Labour TD, Mr Éamon Gilmore, said the timing and scale of the decentralisation plan were "a dead duck", despite the implementation group's attempt to give it "a positive gloss".
"The Government would now do the taxpayers as well as civil and public sector workers a service by acknowledging this and returning to the drawing board," he added.