Some 85% of OPW staff refuse to relocate

SOME 85 per cent of administrative staff at the office in charge of decentralisation will not be moving to its decentralised location, a Dáil committee has been told.

Office of Public Works (OPW) chairman Seán Benton told the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts yesterday that the OPW headquarters would be moving to Trim, Co Meath, but a significant number of staff would not be moving with it.

He also told the committee that more than €8 million was paid out in overtime to staff at the OPW in 2007, with one employee earning almost €61,000 in overtime pay.

The committee was examining accounts from the OPW, certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley.

The accounts showed that decentralisation projects which are already under way in Clonakilty, Trim, Wexford, Killarney, Sligo, Athlone, Longford and Buncrana, would cost the State almost €150 million.

Mr Benton said that as part of the decentralisation programme, his office was having to record its information and procedures because of the danger of loss of “corporate memory” (knowledge) built up through the years.

It could be lost because 85 per cent of the 700 administrative staff were not moving from OPW headquarters at St Stephen’s Green to new offices in Trim, he said.

Mr Benton acknowledged this had its disadvantages, but said it also meant there would be “new blood and fresh thinking”.

The committee also heard overtime of more than €8 million was paid out by the OPW in 2007, with more than €300,000 going to Civil Service grade staff and €7.9 million to OPW grade staff.

Mr Benton said a lot of overtime was incurred by tradesmen.

“A lot of the work they do can only be carried out in the evenings or at weekends,” he said.

In other cases, such as in Dublin Castle, buildings were open all weekend for functions and staff needed to be there. He pointed out that the OPW did get income from those functions.

In the case of the individual who earned almost €61,000 in overtime pay, he said he was “a key person” with a particular expertise and had been required to supervise a number of events. “The number of those functions is in decline at the moment,” he said.

The committee was also told that as part of continuing management of its property portfolio, the OPW had made €575 million from the sale of surplus properties. It would also surrender 10,500sq m of leased office space in the next 12 months, saving annual rent of €4 million.

Mr Benton also said a new unit with an enhanced role in procurement of goods and services would be set up in the OPW.

The new National Public Procurement Operations Unit, an expanded version of the Government Supplies Agency, would procure supplies for government departments and agencies, eventually expanding to local authorities and into the education area.

The unit would require a new staffing structure with specialist skills, Mr Benton said, and he hoped it would be up and running within a month.