Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not comment on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine side but, wearing my public sector reform hat, I would say what the Senator said is right. We are trying to reconfigure the entire system to get greater efficiencies. In a circumstance where we have taken 30,000 people out of the public sector and more are to go, we must do this but the way we do it is the key. It is not that towns will be denuded of public services but they might see a transformation in the public office.

The two largest clients the OPW has are Revenue and the Department of Social Protection. There is a huge demand on their services given the scale of the problems in the economy. It is like a gigantic chess game. To take one service out, one must put in another service, assuming one can create those efficiencies. There are examples of where we have rationalised offices. We find that we can provide a number of services in one office, although I cannot comment on whether this will be the case in Drumshanbo. As the Minister said, there is some hope for the people there that public service authorities will continue to require public service workers to do essential work there, although where it is in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is another matter.

We continue to work with a range of Departments to get the best possible deal for the public service generally and, indeed, for Drumshanbo. I recognise that there are a number of staff there and that people live, work and spend money locally. It is important we do everything we can to ensure towns like Drumshanbo remain on their feet by having these offices in place.