Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 199: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of public servants who have left under the incentivised early retirement scheme with details of grades; the number of public servants who left for other reasons with details of grades; the number of new staff recruited with details of grades; the number of promotions with details of grades; the net savings arising from the staff leaving over and above those recruited and promoted and to provide a breakdown of each of these figures for years 2008, 2009 and to date in 2010 [38320/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I regret to advise the Deputy that it has not been possible to compile all the information requested within the allotted time. I will forward the reply to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of staff members in the Department that are working in regulation, inspection, transposition of directives, policy enforcement, health and safety and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38211/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Staff in my Department work in a large number of functional areas and the majority are involved in enforcement of regulation and policy to varying degrees.

Current staffing levels in the various streams are as follows: Administrative: 1,901.3 Agricultural Inspectorate: 190.4 Veterinary: 302.8 Specialist (incl. Lab. Staff): 205.8 Technical: 853.9 Other 146.7 Industrial: 69.8 Total: 3,670.7

Development and enforcement of controls particularly those relating to food production and food safety are essential for public health and trade. Maintenance of high standards in these areas is critical for the continuous development of the €24 billion output from the agri-food and fishing sector and underpins its exports which are valued in excess of €7 billion .

As the Deputy is aware, the Department administers a number direct payments and on-farm investment schemes worth almost €2 billion annually to in excess of 120,000 farmers. Such schemes include both EU and Exchequer funding and are of critical importance to the sector.