Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 589: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the agencies, bodies or authorities under the aegis of his Department that have been scheduled for merging, amalgamation, abolition or sharing of services as announced in the budget 2009; the progress that has been made on the implementation of these organisational changes; the details of the implementation plan for these organisational changes; the cost savings that will arise from each of these organisational changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47054/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Included in the Budget statement by the Minister for Finance on the 14th October was the decision to transfer the marketing functions of Bord Iascaigh Mhara to An Bord Bia and to merge the National Council for Forestry Research and Development (COFORD) into my Department.

The Government's initiative in transferring the seafood marketing and promotion functions to Bord Bia will ensure the strengthening of seafood marketing as part of a more cohesive overall food marketing effort, while allowing BIM to focus all its energies in developing the seafood industry in line with the Cawley Strategy — Steering A New Course.

The integration of seafood marketing with the State's domestic and international food marketing body will deliver synergies and opportunities for seafood producers where Bord Bia can draw on its expertise in the food sector to identify key future trends and opportunities for growth while pre-empting and reacting to market, competitors and global changes.

The amalgamation of the promotion and market development functions of BIM with Bord Bia, will enable one single agency to manage Ireland's food and drink marketing effort on domestic and international markets. This will facilitate a more effective and efficient marketing effort. It will include the merging of the agencies presence internationally, which overlap in the four markets where BIM currently has a presence. My ambition is that the transfer will be effective from early in 2009, subject to the appropriate legal instruments being in place.

As Bord Bia determines funding priorities and allocations within its Estimate it is not possible at this stage to estimate possible savings to the Exchequer for the years mentioned. The amalgamation of COFORD into the Forest Service of my Department early next year will produce savings in the area of accommodation currently taken for that Organisation. Further possible savings will be accessed as part of the overall estimate provision for the Forest Service in 2009 and beyond.