Department to cut overtime and re-deploy 50 beef staff

HIT by an €85,000 overtime bill for one of their officials last year, the Department of Agriculture has introduced new duty rosters for inspection staff at air and sea ports.

“It is expected that these new arrangements will reduce the overtime bill considerably”, said a spokesman.

The new rosters are designed to maximise the use of existing resources and to limit the need for overtime; any overtime will have to be sanctioned by veterinary management in this new “flexible responsive inspection system”, introduced on September 8.