Ballykelly move may create new posts

However, she says she does not expect all of the 800 civil servants employed by the Department to up sticks for County Londonderry and this may result in opportunities for local people.

Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey asked how many new posts will be created as a result of moving her Department’s headquarters to Ballykelly.

Mrs O’Neill replied: “One of the main reasons for relocating my Departmental Headquarters is to ensure a more equitable spread of high quality public sector jobs across all of the north.

“It is too early in the process to speculate whether there will be any new posts created, however this relocation will provide greater employment and career progression opportunities for people in the North-West.”

But she said people currently living in the North West working in civil service posts in the Greater Belfast area would be afforded the opportunity of taking up posts closer to home and will in future be able to go for promotion with a prospect of being able to remain in a location in the North-West.

“Furthermore, the NICS Terms and Conditions of Employment also ensure that staff in non-mobile grades do not have to move to a new post if it is an unreasonable distance from their current work location.

“My Department does not expect all the staff currently in those posts to transfer to Ballykelly and so this may open up some employment opportunities for people living in the North-West.

“At this stage it is not possible to try to quantify the numbers involved,” she stated.