Fisheries board staff do not want to relocate

No Bord Iascaigh Mhara employees have applied for transfer to Clonakilty, Co Cork, the board's proposed decentralisation location, it has emerged.

As the decentralisation advisory group meets this week to finalise the first wave of Departments and State agencies to move, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) - the Irish Sea Fisheries Board - is not expected to be included. The Government is expected to announce the first tranche before the December 1st budget.

Very few of the agencies like BIM have co-operated with the decentralisation programme and employees were advised by their unions not to apply for transfer. The Government has, however, already reiterated its determination to decentralise, and sources suggest that once agencies are selected for decentralisation, employees "may think twice before letting their jobs go".

BIM has 93 employees at its Dún Laoghaire headquarters and almost 60 in fishing ports.

The Central Applications Facility for decentralisation received no applications from within BIM for the 93 posts in Clonakilty, but there were 36 expressions of interest in those jobs from other civil servants .

The seafood and coastal zone functions of the Department of the Marine, with 91 jobs, are also to move to Clonakilty. Information from the Public Appointments Commission shows that only 23 of the 140 civil servants who expressed an interest in those jobs were from the Department's seafood and coastal zone section.

In the Dáil last week, Minister of State Mr Noel Ahern acknowledged that decentralisation plans for both the Department of the Marine and BIM "have signalled the potential for significant staff turnover and loss of corporate memory and expertise".

Speaking for the Minister for the Marine, Mr Dempsey, he also acknowledged the difficulties for continuity and efficiency and in fulfilling the requirements for technical expertise.

However, he said that the plans included a "preliminary risk analysis and plans for risk mitigation" that took the impact of those problems into account. These plans "will continue to evolve in line with developments".

Labour TD for Dún Laoghaire Mr Eamon Gilmore expressed his opposition and the growing concern of the Dún Laoghaire Business Association with what it viewed as the loss of 100 jobs.

BIM's activity was "very specialised", he said. "It employs a range of scientists, marine engineers and marine technicians, many of whom would be out of place if they were to be transferred to another department.

"In turn, they cannot be replaced by general service employees of other departments or agencies."

If BIM was relocated to Clonakilty, it would have to recruit "an entirely new staff of scientists and specialists ... It is unfair to the existing staff, will seriously disrupt the important work and services being provided by BIM, and add unnecessary costs to the taxpayer," said Mr Gilmore.