Written answers

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Department of Agriculture and Food

Departmental Offices

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the position regarding the proposed office rationalisation in County Cork; the decisions that have been made regarding the proposed closure of offices in Mallow and on South Mall, Cork; the contractual arrangements which have been entered into regarding relocation; if he has taken into account both staff and client concerns in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44672/09]

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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On 15th July, the Government approved my plan for a reorganisation of my Department's Local Office Network. The plan involves reducing, from 57 to 16, the number of offices from which the Department will operate District Veterinary, Forestry and Agricultural Environment and Structures support services in the future.

The decision to close some forty offices of the Department was made only after we had completed a detailed study of the Department's operations at local level. Decisions were made in relation to the overall strategy and against a background of major changes in the Department's operating environment in recent years brought about by the impact of the Single Farm Payment, benefits derived from substantial investment in Information Communications Technology and significant reductions in the incidence of disease.

As part of this plan the Mallow AES and South Mall AES/DVO offices will be closed. The work from these offices will be transferred to a new office to be located in Fermoy. No contractual arrangements have been entered into regarding accommodation in Fermoy to date. The Office of Public Works is in discussions in relation to this accommodation but no decisions have been taken as yet.

As regards client concerns, improvements in business processes, information technology and communications will allow the Department to provide to all of our clients, such services as those referred to earlier, from the 16 enhanced offices set out in the plan. In essence, the new structure was designed to improve and enhance service delivery by integrating into regional offices a range of services that were previously delivered from a much larger number of local offices, thus delivering better levels of customer services through new regional 'one stop shops'.

The various staff associations are being consulted in relation to the redeployment of staff within my Department and to other Departments.

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