While Minister of State in Finance, Tom Parlon, who is in charge of decentralisation, strongly denied any such treachery against his own staff, the latest decentralisation figures show that of the 9,600 public service jobs to be moved out of the capital, only around 4,500 public servants working in Dublin have volunteered to go. The government counters that over 10,000 public servants have volunteered to move . But the majority of those willing to make the move down the country are public servants who are already living there and presumably want to move closer to home.

So no matter what way you slice it, when or if the decentralisation process is complete, there will be over 5,000 public servants in Dublin whose jobs have gone down the country without them. Because, as the government has stressed time and again.

decentralisation is voluntary, these public servants cannot be forced to move with their jobs. In any case, the public servants have a job and pension for life.

The government points out that those remaining in Dublin will be able to transfer to other jobs in the capital. But it would take years for the government departments and agencies remaining in Dublin to absorb so many extra staff. And it would stand the logic of decentralisation on its head if thousands of public servants were squeezed into phantom jobs in Dublin because they didn't want to move out of the capital.

Unless there is a dramatic change of heart over the next three years, that is exactly what will happen; the government will be left with up to 5,000 public servants twiddling their thumbs in Dublin.

At around 50,000 per public servant employed, this will cost 250m a year. This would be on top of the estimated 1bn the government estimates it needs to buy, lease or rent office buildings in the 53 locations around the country.

Although Parlon says public servants won't be left jobless in Dublin, he is less clear as to how it will be achieved. ?There will be no whitewalling and no duplication, with workers doing two jobs. That is an absolute commitment, " Parlon told Labour's finance spokesperson Joan Burton at a Finance Oireachtas committee hearing two weeks ago. But when pressed as to how this can be avoided , Parlon said: ?The government will not allow it to happen."

But it has happened here before. Staff in the old Land Commission continued to punch in every day for years even though the commission had been closed down.

Even today there are a few hundred staff in the Department of Agriculture who are surplus to requirements following the closure of a number of EU grant schemes.

Originally these workers were supposed to become driver testers in a bid to reduce the backlog of learner drivers. But they were found unsuitable for the job and the plan was dropped. Civil service employers are still trying to find something for them to do.

While many would dream of a well-paid job doing nothing, career-orientated public servants are not looking forward to what Burton said is a ?tremendously destructive" situation to be in. Promotional prospects are not good when you are doing nothing. And that is Parlon's second big problem with decentralisation. On top of having 5,000 idle public servants in Dublin, he will also have lost their expertise, which will take time to replace. Many of those unwilling to leave Dublin are professional and technical staff such as architects, draughtsmen and engineers. For example, an engineer cannot realistically do clerical work while a clerical worker will not become an engineer overnight.

Richard Bruton, Fine Gael's spokesman on finance, kindly reminded Parlon of these difficulties at the same select committee hearing. ?Not one person in Bord Iascaigh Mhara or Failte Ireland wants to move, " he said. ?Only one out of 90 on the National Roads Authority, two out of 100 in the Public Appointments Service, five out of 100 in the Valuation Office, nine out of 110 in the Health and Safety Authority, 15 out of 210 in the Ordnance Survey and 19 out of 300 in Enterprise Ireland are willing to move with their jobs."

But Parlon was still upbeat, arguing that decentralisation is ?an extremely popular programme with civil servants."

He did admit, however, that former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy's announcement in December 2003 that decentralisation would be completed in three years was ?ambitious." ?Anyone would have said that such a target was impossible, " said Parlon.