Little over five months after being established, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) may relocate to the west of Ireland.
ComReg is being considered as part of the Department of Communications decentralisation programme, along with other bodies under its aegis.
The Government is set to embark on a massive public service decentralisation programme to the regions, which is strongly supported by the Communications Minister, Dermot Ahern TD. The Department of Communications says that given modern communications technology, actual location isn’t nearly as important as it used to be.
Widespread speculation that ComReg, which has 110 employees, is to re-locate to Ballinasloe, Co Galway, has been denied by the department. “Agencies under the aegis of the Department of Communications are being considered for decentralisation, which is part of Government policy, but a decision has yet to be made,” a spokesman says.
The department is likely to provide the first of several hundred candidates for the move away from the capital, although a timescale for the move hasn’t been agreed. A spokesperson for ComReg confirmed to siliconrepublic.com that it hasn’t been given its visas just yet.
By Lisa Deeney
