The Government has abandoned plans to transfer nearly 100 probation officers from Dublin to Navan in the first significant climbdown in its decentralisation programme.
Only a little under 20 administrative staff in the Probation and Welfare Service, including the chief probation officer, will be based in Navan, rather than in the service's Dublin offices near the Children's Court. The probation officers' victory will make it more difficult to transfer thousands of other professional and technically qualified staff, such as Office of Public Works architects and Ordnance Survey technicians.
The decision comes despite Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's Dáil declaration that officials would not "hold up the relocation of a department" and workers would have to transfer or move to other Dublin jobs.
The Department of Justice, which warned last year that decentralisation would increase the probation service's costs and reduce services, told the Department of Finance last month about the decision to scale back the move to Navan. Department of Justice officials told some trade union representatives two weeks ago, though Impact - the union that represents probation officers - has not been informed.
In an attempt to create 120 State jobs in Navan, the Department of Justice has decided to base the Garda Síochána's 40-strong upgraded human resources division there, although Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy was not consulted. Two new State bodies not on the original decentralisation list - the 40-strong Coroners' Agency, and the 12-strong auctioneers' regulatory body - will also go to Navan.
