The Tánaiste Mary Harney has said "there is an issue" in relation to the decentralisation of staff in semi-state bodies.
Ms Harney said that while she didn't want to interfere with the current industrial dispute at Fás she acknowledged there was an issue and said that decentralisation might have to be done within a longer timeframe.
Earlier today, the public service union Impact has claimed it will cost up to €65 million to replace public servants who refuse to decentralise with their government departments.
Impact said it would seek "specific answers" about how the Government intends to replace skilled staff who refuse to decentralise when it meets Minister of State Tom Parlon next week.
Louise O'Donnell, Impact
Delegates at the biennial conference of Ireland's biggest public sector union are also to debate pay, benchmarking, housing and employment standards.
Today is the second day of the Impact conference, which is being attended by some 600 delegates, in Killarney, Co Kerry.
Speaking at the conference, Impact official Louise O'Donnell said she wanted the minister to give "specific answers to the hard questions".
She asked: "How are you going to replace 37 archaeologists with honours degrees plus experience in the field? How are you going to replace 50 OPW architects who need a degree - a minimum of five years - and specialist IT experience?
"How are you going to replace the aeronautical officers, who certify the airworthiness of civil aircraft, and are mostly qualified pilots with additional engineering degrees?" she said.
Ms O'Donnell noted the fears of some public servants for their jobs and career prospects. "We are still waiting for concrete agreements to back up the Government's promise that the jobs and careers of those who stay will be protected," she said.
"There are real fears that members will be denied promotion, be stopped from doing the work they trained and qualified for, be ordered to train others to take over their jobs, and end up without any meaningful role."
Ms O'Donnell said "most people" were now convinced that the Government's approach to decentralisation would not work.
"It has antagonised staff. It's bad for taxpayers, bad for services, and frustrating for communities around Ireland who have got promises but no jobs. We've done our homework on this. We've crunched the numbers, analysed the data, and demonstrated that this won't work. The Government needs to take its head out of the sand and change its approach."
The union claims decentralisation will increase costs and damage services because only 15 per cent of specialist staff - who it says cannot be replaced by others who lack the necessary qualifications and experience - have volunteered to move.
Impact wants organisations to be removed from the programme if decentralisation is "not practical or cost-effective for them".
It also wants other bodies to retain some of their operations in their original locations. The union called for the decentralisation timetable to be extended and for "e-working" to be introduced to ease relocation problems for staff. The union urged members to raise the issue with general election candidates of all parties.
Louise O'Donnell, Impact
"There will be a general election next year and we want all candidates, from every political party, to know that this is a big issue for Dublin voters and others," Ms O'Donnell said.
Impact general secretary Peter McLoone, who is also current president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, will address delegates this morning on the prospects of a successful outcome to the national partnership talks.
A motion from the union's marine branch calls on the Government to abandon its "ad-hoc decentralisation plans". It also calls on the union's executive to ensure the Government provides the taxpayer with a cost-benefit analysis of the decentralisation programme.
Yesterday, Impact president Stephen Lyons said public servants and their trade unions were under sustained attack from vested interests who wanted to cut back, privatise and profit from public services.
This had damaged the morale of public servants, most of whom worked hard every day to provide the best possible service to the public, he said.