David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address the matter and I hope he will address it sympathetically.

In his budget statement in December, the Minister for Finance announced the decentralisation of part of the Department of Agriculture and Food from Cork city to Macroom. I understand the rationale behind decentralisation was to decentralise posts from Dublin. This is one of the few cases where civil servants based outside Dublin will be moved to another area.

As the Minister of State knows, Cork is a big county and there already is a Department of Agriculture and Food office in Clonakilty. My constituency is east of the city and includes towns like Youghal, Midleton, Michelstown, Cobh and Fermoy. Farmers from this area currently travel to Cork city to conduct business with the Department. While there are problems with parking near the office on the South Mall, they get around this.

Under the decentralisation programme, staff working in the office on the South Mall will move to Macroom. I am sure the Minister of State will sympathise with farmers from Youghal who will now have to pass Cork city in order to get to Macroom to conduct business. This does not improve the service for farmers. Surely improving the service to customers, as they are now termed, is what the Department should be concerned with. I ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food to re-examine this decision. While I am not saying there should not be an office in Macroom, there should be an office on the eastern or northern periphery of the city that would be easily accessible to farmers from east and north Cork. A number of well-attended meetings have been held and this is what farmers have called for.

The office on the South Mall serves two DVO areas. The Cork north district veterinary area has 6,032 herds while the Cork central district veterinary area has 2,357 herds. Therefore, more than 8,000 herds will be affected by this move. As of last November, there were 280 restricted TB herds for the Cork northeast area and 349 for the Cork southwest area.

This is crucial for farming in Cork. It does not make sense to move the offices to Macroom and require farmers to travel from Youghal, through Cork city and on to Macroom. Farmers from Youghal have no connection with Macroom. Macroom is a lovely town and is a great place and should have an office that serves mid-Cork. However, east and north Cork should not be discommoded in the way proposed by the Minister.

While I have raised this issue on a number of occasions with the Minister by way of parliamentary question, he did not give me great solace in his responses. He should look at this again. I hope the Minister of State will be able to tell me that this will be re-examined. While I am aware of the decentralisation implementation committee, I am not sure of its role. I understand the OPW must locate buildings and premises. The Minister for Finance has made a decision and I am not sure if it can be reversed at this stage. Although farmers are social partners, I am told they were not consulted about this issue and they are somewhat upset about this.

I hope the Minister of State can give me good news on this. The office in question is a service office and must be accessible and within easy reach of the farmers it serves. Farmers cannot afford the time to drive all the way to Macroom and back. The office could be located on the outskirts of the city.

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