Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to close the District Veterinary Office in Limerick and any other District Veterinary offices to the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9915/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is currently reviewing the administrative support for its 16 Regional Offices and, in particular, the centralisation of this support in one or more centralised office(s). Centralising administrative procedures would enable my Department to reduce the number of administrative staff it requires to support District Veterinary Office operations and, accordingly, the cost of providing its services. The administrative functions for Cork have been recently centralised in Cork city and the administrative functions in the Limerick DVO will be transferred to Naas with effect from 4th March, front office presence will remain. It has also been decided to transfer the administrative functions out of the Tipperary Regional Office to Cavan. The centralisation of administrative functions in other regional offices will be considered in light of the availability of opportunities to redeploy the staff concerned to support other critical public services. There are no plans for the closure of any of the 16 Regional Offices to the public in the context of this review.