As part of the government's plan to decentralise 10,000 public servants, finance minister Brian Cowen wants to shift specialist IT staff working in Revenue Commisioners and the departments of health, finance and agriculture into world-class 'data warehouses' outside Dublin.

Because very few of the 835 IT staff actually want to move out of Dublin, however, a feasibility study was conducted into the plan. This has unearthed several problems, including limited electricity supply outside the country's main urban centres, and the move is now being reconsidered.

"The data centres could only be located in the greater Dublin, Limerick or Cork regions, " according to the study, which was presented to the government's decentralisation implementation group. It went on to point out the need for these centres to "maintain replicated versions of key data in as near to real time as possible which has distance limitations even using high-speed fibre-optic connections".

But an ESB spokesman denied that the company could not supply the necessary power in provincial locations.

"Certainly, we couldn't do it tomorrow because the cost of maintaining large power supply lines throughout the country would be prohibitive.

"But once we have advance warning, save in west Donegal and west Galway where the whole system needs an upgrade, we could supply the required power anywhere in the country, " said the ESB spokesman.

In addition to the power supply limitations, the Department of Finance said that given the sensitivity of the data held in these new centres and international data protections laws, it would have concerns about the security of the data managed by the private sector. "Government bodies would need robust assurances that data centre operators could protect the security of public service data, " said the Finance report.