Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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302. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans regarding the district veterinary office in County Galway; if the office is to be relocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2767/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In line with government policy, my Department began a process in 2009, of restructuring its local office network. This resulted in a reduction in the number of local offices from 58 to 16 enhanced Regional Offices. A follow-on review of business processes and procedures and, in particular, the administrative support requirements, in those 16 offices resulted in the introduction of a number of significant changes in the implementation of controls in the TB eradication programme. As a consequence of these changes and having regard to the significant efficiencies which have already arisen as a result of the investment made by my Department in IT in recent years, the number of staff required to deliver the service in the local offices has been considerably reduced. The review concluded that further substantial efficiencies would accrue from the centralisation of administrative support and, in light of this, my Department has commenced a process to centralise this support in 2 ‘back office’ locations, namely Portlaoise and Cavan.

The centralisation of administrative functions facilitates the redeployment of staff from my Department’s Regional Offices to other State agencies and, thereby, enable Government to provide services through these agencies more efficiently. My Department has already engaged with the Garda Síochána, the Department of Social Protection, the Revenue Commissioners and the Payroll Shared Services Centre with a view to new work for staff from my Department that are affected by the reorganisation plan. Following the Government decision to locate one of the 3 Payroll Shared Services Centres in Galway, my Department has been requested to redeploy our administrative staff in Galway to that Centre. No date has been set yet for redeployment but the Department anticipates it is likely to happen in mid 2015. The proposed redeployment to the Shared Payroll Service does not involve administrative staff being moved from their current location in Renmore.

It is important to state that any changes to my Department’s Galway office will not negatively impact upon local access and services for local customers. Department veterinary inspectors, agricultural inspectors and technical officers will remain in place and frontline services will be fully maintained and public access for all of the Department’s stakeholders will continue to be available. Similar changes have taken place in the Department’s offices in Clonakilty, Limerick, Waterford and Enniscorthy without any negative implications for the provision of services to farmer clients.