Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 February 2022
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source
Looking at the outputs from the State Laboratory, we have seen quite a significant increase in activity. Last year, the laboratory significantly exceeded its output target and issued 4,633 statements to assist the work of the courts, including coroners. The target was 4,000. That was due to the large increase in coroners' cases. It also provided expert scientific advice in 455 instances to their clients. That was below the target but mainly due to there being fewer requests for tariff clarification advice from Revenue than anticipated. That was as a result of the pandemic.
The laboratory was considered an essential service right through Covid-19. It remained open throughout the pandemic although the number of food and feed samples submitted for testing reverted to pre-pandemic levels following a slight reduction in 2020. The number of customs and excise samples submitted overall reduced further as Revenue officials were doing fewer on-site inspections last year. I gave the figure for the Coroner. We are seeing a significant overall increase in activity in the work it does.
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