Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Higgins for sharing his time with me. As we speak, 260 Department of Agriculture and Food personnel are on picket lines outside the various offices that Senator Higgins mentioned. This is unfair. The initial action of the Department was provocative in the extreme in the way in which personnel were told – by email at 4.20 p.m. – they would be taken off the payroll on 1 April 2003. It is a classic example of the provocation of personnel within the Department towards the farming community and the Department's staff. At the time of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak those who sought their entitlement to fair promotional opportunities were guaranteed, albeit verbally, that immediately that crisis, which they helped to prevent, was over, their cases would be resolved. There have been many reports since. The personnel survey of local offices was complete in June 2002, yet we are still waiting. Those concerned have reached the end of their tether regarding commitments and undertakings from the Department. Now they have no alternative but to demand their rights. The Department's response has been to tell them that they are no longer on the payroll.

In Loughrea, in the Minister of State's constituency, personnel have been on the street for the last six weeks. What has he done to resolve the situation? Is he concerned about the personnel involved and their families, for they have had no pay during that time? How does he respond to this? How can any Department treat its personnel in such a cavalier fashion? The other side of the coin is the hardship of the farming community to which Senator Higgins referred. Farmers have no access to their cars or veterinary certification. They cannot have all their other entitlements dealt with. REPS applications and those regarding farm buildings are not being processed. The Department has stated they have been available since last Thursday to it and the Minister. We have heard nothing but a deafening silence in the interim.

In 2003 that is no way to treat personnel of high standing who have been doing a good job in the interests of the farming community and the Department, yet nobody seems to care about the situation in which they find themselves. Like my colleague, I ask the Minister of State to intervene as a matter of urgency to resolve the dispute. There is no justification for its continuing as the Minister of State and the Department have allowed.