David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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827. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year savings for 2017 by reducing spending on professional fees by 10% in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14104/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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It is not possible to provide this information in the required time. I will forward it to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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828. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year saving for 2017 by reducing spending on travel by 10% in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14122/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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An estimated saving of €830,000 for the year 2017 would result from reducing anticipated 2016 expenditure on travel in my Department by 10 per cent. The largest component of my Department’s travel expenditure is required for home travel in the control inspections for EU schemes, animal health controls and meat inspection services. Also, my Department’s travel expenditure includes the costs associated with our obligations to attend meetings in Brussels related to the European Union. Additional foreign travel is undertaken for the purpose of increasing access to important third country markets.

Travel expenditure is continuously being monitored and activities that require regular travel are reviewed with a view to reducing travel costs. In the period 2008 to 2015 the Department reduced annual travel and subsistence expenditure by some €8.259m (54%). These considerable savings have been delivered by deploying technology, improving business processes and rationalising inspections. However, it must be borne in mind that much of my Department’s business takes place on farms and other premises, which are in remote locations.