Union says government staff should be used in factory meat inspections

A TRADE union has claimed that huge savings would arise if the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food got its own trained staff to undertake factory meat inspections currently done by external inspectors.

IMPACT said the use of external vets to do the work costs up to €78 an hour, compared with just €16 €25 an hour if the department’s own agricultural officers did it. The department has trained 270 agricultural officers specifically to do the work to standards required by European Union regulations.

IMPACT said it wrote to the chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Johnny Brady, last week after press reports quoted Minister Brendan Smith as saying “industrial relations issues” were preventing the change.