42 local agriculture offices to be closed
The reduction will come into effect immediately and result in a reduction in the number of civil services working in the agricultural area.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said: “This decision, when fully implemented, will result in financial savings in my department’s running costs of some €30 million annually and the reduction of over 400 staff, to be achieved in large part over the coming 12 months.
He added: “By rationalising our local office network we can improve services to our clients by concentrating the remaining staff resources of approximately 1,000 people at the newly developed centres. This initiative is part of a continuous process of modernisation of the department. I would like to express my appreciation to the staff in our local offices for their contribution to the work of the department over the years.”
The new structure of 16 offices will involve the co-location of staff based in the 28 district veterinary offices, 20 agricultural environment and structures offices and 10 forestry offices.
According to the department: “The aim of this reorganisation is to rationalise the overall number of locations across the country so as to facilitate the more efficient management of schemes, services and disease levels.”
Among the offices to be enhanced are Cork city and Clonakilty.
The department employs 4,000 staff in more than 200 locations. More than 100 of these locations include 28 district veterinary offices, 20 standalone agricultural environment and structures offices, 13 fisheries centres, 10 laboratories, 10 forestry offices, six main offices and five farms.
Other areas of the department’s operations being reviewed, include the laboratories and farms owned by the department as well as its six main offices in Dublin, Portlaoise, Cavan, Wexford, Clonakilty and Backweston.
After meeting Taoiseach Brain Cowen yesterday Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe criticised cuts by the Department of Agriculture and others proposed by McCarthy report.
Mr Walshe said the cuts demonstrate a “narrow mentality of some civil service mandarins and others who have no appreciation of the importance of the rural economy beyond the Pale and the complex economic fabric of rural Ireland”.
A Department of Agriculture spokesman confirmed the move would result in staff being relocated to other departments but said there would be no redundancies and the numbers involved were not yet known.
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