The number of civil and public servants who have expressed an interest in moving from Dublin in the decentralisation plan has fallen well short of the Government's target of 10,300.
New figures from the official decentralisation website reveal that only 4,245 Dublin-based civil and public servants have told the Government that they are willing to move from the city to new offices in the 53 new locations announced in the Budget.
The very low level of interest in the State agencies has not significantly improved in the eight weeks since applications were previously counted. There was not a single internal applicant in seven of the agencies.
However, officials in the Department of Finance said yesterday that the relatively high rate of applicants at lower civil service grades will place pressure on the Government to deliver the initiative.
While 18 of the 47 new civil service locations were over-subscribed in numerical terms, this does not mean that specialised jobs will be filled.
For example, it is understood that "very few" probation and welfare officers are among those seeking to move to the Probation & Welfare Service in Navan.
Locations in the commuter belt hinterland of Dublin were among the most popular to be oversubscribed for applications. These included Carlow (Enterprise, Trade and Employment); Drogheda (Communications and Social & Family Affairs); Newbridge (Defence); and Portarlington (Data Protection Commissioner).
The level of interest in the Civil Service has improved since July, although the figures also show that many of the most senior senior civil servants have no interest in the programme.
Only 19 civil servants who work at the assistant secretary grade and upwards expressed an interest in filling the 55 posts which are to be decentralised.
However, another 19 of the senior civil servants said they would consider moving at a later date or would not rule out moving.
Such figures do not include secretaries general in Government Departments.
Overall, some 3,711 Dublin-based civil servants would move to the new decentralised locations.
This is up from 2,200 in July, but well short of the 7,200 target set by the Government in the Budget.
Some 3,350 civil servants based outside Dublin would move to the new locations.
While some 525 Dublin-based civil servants would move to existing provincial offices, another 566 civil servants already working outside Dublin are interested in moving to another existing location.
In addition, some 534 Dublin-based State agency employees are interested in moving to the new locations.
This is up from 292 in July, but far from the Government's target of 2,300.
Another 272 would move to existing provincial locations or from existing provincial offices.
As in the previous survey, the latest figures show that most of the interest in moving from Dublin is at the lower levels of the civil and public service.
The 2,364 applications from clerical officers, Dublin-based or otherwise, exceeded the 2,118 posts available in the new locations.
While applications from executive officers throughout the State would fill 85 per cent of the posts available in numerical terms, those from principal officers would fill only 38 per cent of the jobs.
Overall, some 9,200 staff had lodged applications or expressions of interest by the most recent deadline, September 7th.