Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 244: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of inspectors employed by her Department; the breakdown of the figures; the breakdown of the figures; and the number of farmers inspected by those inspectors. [39715/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department currently employs 343 staff in the Veterinary Inspector grades, 220 Agricultural Inspectors, 35 Forestry Inspectors and 1087 Agricultural Officers. These officers work in Food Safety, Research, District Veterinary Offices, Agricultural Environment and Structures, Single Farm Payment and Disadvantaged Areas, Seed Certification, Dairy Produce, Feeding Stuffs, Fertiliser, Grain, Poultry and Eggs, Forestry etc. The bulk of farm inspections are carried out by staff in the District Veterinary Offices and in the Agricultural Environment & Structures, Single Farm Payment/Disadvantaged Areas Schemes.

Currently there are some 350 officers in the District Veterinary Offices whose duties include the inspection of farms on an on-going basis with the primary objective of safeguarding animal and public health. During 2006 some 290 officers from the Agricultural Environment and Structures Division and the Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Schemes are scheduled to visit a total of 17,889 farms. I might add that the annual number of inspections under the Single Payment System has fallen dramatically to just over 8,000 from a figure of 18,000 under the old coupled system of payment.