Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

376. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will allow Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, to appoint sufficient staff to deal with its remit of promoting the agriculture industry, given the dramatic increase in demands on its existing resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37349/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I very much appreciate the important contribution that Teagasc is making to the agriculture and food sector in Ireland and we continue to require their ongoing support to enable the sector meet the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, has been working closely with Teagasc to address staffing issues in the organisation. Teagasc have been authorised to fill a number of mission critical posts in the organisation. It was also approved to appoint 40 new temporary teachers to meet the demand from young farmers for Green Cert courses. In addition, exceptional arrangements have been agreed to permit Teagasc to recruit contract staff where they can secure external funding to cover the costs. This has facilitated the recruitment of some 180 contractors working in research and knowledge transfer.

New arrangements for managing staff numbers have recently been finalised to provide public bodies under the aegis of DAFM, including Teagasc, with greater discretion over staff appointments but strictly within an overall pay framework. It permits those bodies to fill vacancies through recruitment and/or promotion in specified, designated grades, subject to compliance with multi-annual pay ceilings. The multi-annual pay ceilings are binding and it will fall on each body to deliver services within the agreed allocations. This includes responding to emerging expenditure pressures without recourse to additional Exchequer allocations and will involve commitment to ongoing reform and efficiency measures and reprioritisation of expenditure as appropriate.