Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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867. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of WTE qualified horticulturists, by grade, employed by the Department in the years of 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [45016/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department engages in workforce planning to assess its current and future recruitment needs. The educational qualifications required and the relevant selection criteria are reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis to ensure that they meet these needs. Tailored to specific grades, my Departments recruitment campaigns may invite candidates who hold qualifications in a variety of areas including for example, horticulture, plant health, animal health, animal welfare and food safety.

There is no specific competition which stipulates horticulture as the only entry requirement. Therefore I cannot answer this question with accuracy due to the broad range of qualifications candidates may hold which deem them suitable for our competitions.