Concern over loss of Clare agriculture office

CLARE looks set to become the only county in Munster without a local Department of Agriculture office, if the Government proceeds with a national rationalisation of offices.

The Government has approved a plan submitted by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for a reorganisation of the department’s local office network. The plan involves a reduction from 57 to 16 in the number of offices from which the department will operate district veterinary, forestry and agricultural environment and structures support services in the future. The department has set a target of 12 months for the implementation of the plan.

As part of this process, the Ennis District Veterinary Office, including the Agricultural Environment and Structures Office and the Forest Service Office, will be vacated and all services will be provided for counties Clare and Limerick from a regional centre in Limerick. The Killarney Agricultural Environment and Structures Office is scheduled for closure, with a regional centre being developed in Tralee.

Clare IFA chairman, Michael Lynch, warned that the closure would result in additional cost and inconvenience for local farmers, who would now have to travel to Limerick to deal with amendments to forms for schemes and selling cattle.

He pointed out that Clare could be left without an office even though it had a large number of herds, 6,500 in total, compared with Kerry, which would have at least one office to deal with 7,100 herds.

His concern was shared by Councillor James Breen, who called on Minister of State, Tony Killeen, to intervene to stop the closure of the local Department of Agriculture office in Ennis.

Councillor Breen proposed that the two main farming organisations, the IFA and ICMSA, should hold a public meeting to outline its opposition to the cuts and the drastic impact on landowners.

“I have spoken to farmers who are very concerned that they will now have to travel to Limerick to get a form rectified or filled. They knew most of the staff in the existing office and had built up a relationship with them and they may not be moved to the new regional office in Limerick,” he said.

Deputy Killeen said that up to 41 offices would be closed to achieve a national saving of €30 million and if this isn’t implemented, substantial reductions would have to be made in payments for farmers.

Unlike a number of local deputies and councillors who had made alternative proposals, such as a sub-office in Clare Marts on mart days, Deputy Killeen stated that Councillor Breen had not presented him with any alternatives to deal with the situation.

Deputy Killeen stressed that he was open to receiving constructive proposals to address genuine concerns, which he would be happy to forward to the department.

The Department of Agriculture has stated that the remaining 16 offices will become regional offices and will be resourced to provide the level of customer service required and supported by training for all relevant staff.

A department spokesman stated, “In some cases the regional centres will serve a single county, in others a number of counties. In terms of the offices selected for enhancement as a regional office or selected for closure, no one single criterion was used.

“Each decision was based on a combination of criteria including geographical spread, ownership of building, standard of accommodation, staff availability, opportunities for staff redeployment and potential alternative.”