Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current status of appointing a Teagasc dairy adviser for County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12805/15]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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What is the current status of the appointment process for a Teagasc dairy adviser for County Meath?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Deputy McEntee has been raising this matter consistently with me for the past few months. I very much appreciate the important contribution the Teagasc advisory service is making in assisting the development of the agriculture and food sector and in providing advice and support to farm families, particularly at this time, given the opportunities there are for expansion and growth. The service engages with 60,000 farmers per annum, of whom approximately 40,000 are contracted clients. We continue to require a strong input from Teagasc advisers to support sustainable and profitable farming into the future.

My Department has been actively working with Teagasc to ease staffing difficulties in the organisation. Within the constraints of the moratorium, more than 60 permanent appointments were authorised on an exceptional basis since 2009. A further 20 contract teachers were approved in the agricultural colleges to meet the demand for green certificate courses. Teagasc also employs 190 non-Exchequer funded contract staff outside the moratorium framework to deliver advisory and research programmes. The announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in budget 2014 regarding delegated sanction for staffing arrangements will provide greater discretion to Departments and State agencies over staffing levels, but strictly within an overall pay framework. My Department has submitted a pay and staff numbers strategy to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for consideration in respect of the State bodies that operate under the aegis of the Department, including Teagasc. It is expected that the delegated sanction arrangements will be finalised shortly and will provide some flexibility to fill critical posts within agreed pay ceilings.

In the interim, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, has approved Teagasc to fill a small number of front-line posts in the advisory service. The allocation of advisers to particular locations is an operational matter for Teagasc to determine, but I understand it intends to appoint a dairy adviser to the Louth-Meath-Dublin region shortly.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response and am glad to hear Teagasc hopes to appoint someone. I know it not something the Minister can simply sanction. There are rules and regulations, and with the moratorium on recruitment of staff, there are certain routes that must be taken. However, I come from a county that has a very dedicated farming community, in particular a very dedicated dairy farming community, which has been left without an adviser since last August, when the previous adviser left. It is not good enough that they have been left since then and that we have not had some sort of response until now, especially as we are coming into April. The timing could not be worse, with the abolition of quotas. Now more than ever, farmers need the advisers there to ensure they have advice on how it affects them, how they may need to adapt, and how they can benefit from it. Some of the farmers have said they will withhold their subscriptions from Teagasc, which none of us wants to see happen. I am glad to hear that there is movement on it. I ask the Minister to continue treating it as a matter of urgency.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Meath has approximately 520 dairy farms, many of which will be planning for expansion and growth. All of these will want to do so on the back of a good business plan, working with their advisory service to ensure it is done in a way that is sustainable, profitable and well managed. Teagasc faces multiple challenges, including helping people to put GLAS applications together. It has a strong research focus with places such as Moorepark. It also faces a very strong educational challenge, and we have looked for more staff for it because our agricultural colleges are more in demand than they have ever been. The advisory service is a crucial link between all Teagasc does and on-farm activity. This is why I agree with the Deputy that the ambitions of the farmers in Meath in terms of improving their farm practices mean we need to have an advisory service which is fit for purpose. This is why I have spoken to Teagasc about it, and I understand there will be some movement on it soon.