Letter of clarification

Our Reference : 040097

March 2006

Mr John Burns

The Sunday Times

4th Floor

Bishop's Square

Redmond's Hill

Dublin 2

Dear Mr Burns,

I refer to my decision of 22 December 2005 on your request under the Freedom of Information Acts for records relating to the "decentralisation" of Government Departments, Offices and Agencies. At paragraph 3 of page 6 of my decision letter, the following statement is made:

"In the present case, the Department has expressed a number of concerns regarding the release of the three records. It has argued that the issue of locations and numbers for decentralisation is still a matter for negotiation with the unions".

It has been brought to my attention by the Department of Finance that this statement does not accurately reflect its position as set out in its submission on this case to this Office. It contends that the statement gives the impression that the Department is open to negotiating the issue of locations and numbers in relation to the decentralisation policy. The Department adds that this is not correct and that its submission had made it clear that it was the unions who had expressed an intention of re-opening this debate. The Department's position on this matter was summarised in its submission in the following terms:

"In summary, while it is the Government’s and this Department’s position that the terms of the programme, as announced in December, 2003, will be implemented in full, the union parties to the negotiations have a publicly expressed intention of re-opening the debate on the detail of the numbers, organisations and locations announced".

While the purpose of this letter is to clarify the Department's position, it does not affect my decision in relation to your request. However, it is the intention to refer to this point of clarification when publishing the decision on this Office's website.

Yours sincerely

_______________

Patrick Whelan

Director General