The proposed move caused a row in the Dail last week when junior minister Tom Parlon suggested that if UK overseas aid staff could move to "darkest Africa", it was ridiculous to suggest that their Irish equivalents couldn't move "one hour down the road or a half hour by plane". Parlon, who is in charge of the decentralisation process, later withdrew the 'darkest Africa' comment and denied it was a slur on Limerick.

The reluctance to move to Limerick is not confined to senior staff. Only three of the 19 first secretaries required to move have said they will go while six of 25 specialist staff who have in-depth knowledge of the section's work in Africa have volunteered to make the move.

Speaking before Parlon's comment, the Minister of State for Overseas Aid, Conor Lenihan, said he planned to move to Limerick but suggested he wouldn't be there that much.

Lenihan, who lives among his constituents in Templeogue in Dublin, said he was unlikely to buy a house in Limerick. "Given the amount of time I will be in the office in Limerick I will probably rent an apartment or stay in a hotel when I'm there, " he said.

"When the Dail is sitting I will have to be in Dublin on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and will also spend one day a week in my constituency office, " Lenihan told the Sunday Tribune. He confirmed that like all the ministers and junior ministers who are due to decentralise with their department, he will still have an office in Dublin as well as his office in Limerick.

The Department of Agriculture head office on Kildare Street in Dublin, which backs on to Government Buildings, is the location of a new suite of offices for decentralised minister and their advisers. Ministers being scattered to the four corners of the country have insisted that they keep a presence in Dublin in order to keep an eye on political developments in the capital.