O'Cuiv set to open decentalised Buncrana offices
With the government under fire this week for spending millions on new decentralised offices that are still lying vacant, it's all systems go in Buncrana at least.
Minister for Social Protection amon Cuv, TD, will officially open the new decentralised offices of the Department of Social Welfare on McCarter's Road, Buncrana at 3pm on Friday.
The €21m state of the art premises is home to more than 90 staff who transferred to Buncrana as part of the government's decentralised programme. It is understood that a total of up to 120 staff are to be deployed to Buncrana under the scheme.
It's good news for the beleagured town that's seen massive job losses with the closure of Fruit of the Loom and the decline in both farming and fishing.
It's also a marked contrast with other decentralisation stories as reported in yesterday's Irish Times.
Of the 45 decentralised offices planned for rural towns across the country, less than half (21) have been completed. Four more have been approved to proceed or to be completed, thirteen are "subject to review" and six have been "deferred".
Environment Editor Frank McDonald highlighted how the Office of Public Works bought a two-acre site in Drogheda for €10m in 2007 and still has no definite plans to build on it.
The Dept. of Social Protection has also decentralised 159 of its staff to Carrick-on-Shannon, paying €800,000 per year to lease the premises and a further €4.33 to kit it out. The planned decentralisation of an additional 90 staff to Carrick-on-Shannon has been "deferred".
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Monday 21 May 2012
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