I propose to answer Questions Nos. 24, 25, 84, 96, 134, 135, 176 and 182 together.
The completion of the Internal Market in accordance with the provisions of the Single European Act and, in particular, the abolition of internal frontier controls, will mean considerable staffing, operational and other changes for the Customs and Excise service.
The Revenue Commissioners have now produced a report on the staffing implications for the Customs and Excise service of the planned completion of the Single European Market on 1 January 1993 and, in particular, the elimination of the fiscal frontiers and Border controls between member states.
This report has been presented by the Revenue Commissioners to the staff and the staff unions concerned. In summary it shows that a potential surplus of approximately 600 Customs and Excise staff will arise as a consequence of the introduction of the Internal Market. This surplus figure is based on the current assessment of post-1992 staffing requirements taking account of decisions taken so far at EC and national levels. It will be necessary, of course, to review, on a continuing basis, the assumptions made in the report in so far as those might be impacted upon by future decisions in relation to the completion of the Internal Market.
Within this overall outcome, it is clear that the impact of the Single Market changes falls unevenly on Customs and Excise locations. Understandably, areas with a heavy customs preventative work element such as the Border areas will suffer the most. These areas will require special attention to avoid hardship to Customs and Excise and their families.
Referring specifically to Deputy Deasy's question, I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that there are at present 74 Customs and Excise staff employed in County Waterford and that based on current decisions and assumptions they estimate that 32 of these will be surplus to requirements following the completion of the Internal Market on 1 January 1993.
In the report the Revenue Commissioners have outlined proposals aimed at reducing the surplus figure. These proposals envisage the enhancing of existing areas of work currently undertaken by Customs and Excise staff such as the control of drugs and other illicit traffic and the control of duty-free sales to better cater for the post-1992 environment. Also the commissioners have put forward proposals for the involvement of Customs and Excise staff in new areas of work which will arise post-1992 but on which final decisions have yet to be taken. These areas would include motor vehicle taxation and control of excisable products. I have no doubt that these proposals will prove fruitful in reducing the surplus numbers.
The Revenue Commissioners have made it clear that it will not be possible to address the surplus staff situation solely within the Customs and Excise area. They have, therefore, put before the staff and the staff unions concerned the necessity to accept that solutions to the surplus staff problem must be sought within Revenue as a whole and within the wider public and Civil Service areas. They have put forward, in this context, a specific proposal to absorb surplus Customs and Excise staff through access to decentralisation posts in Revenue and in the wider public and Civil Service areas. The Deputy will be aware that in the current phase of the decentralisation programme the Revenue Commissioners are relocating about 900 staff to the Limerick, Ennis and Nenagh areas. Furthermore, the House will be aware that in the next phase of the decentralisation programme the Government have decided to relocate staff to Tullamore, Cork, Portlaoise, Wexford, Kilkenny, Waterford and Dundalk, areas in which staff surpluses have been identified in the 1992 context. It is obvious that the relocations to these centres provide the opportunity to absorb staff in their local communities.
Other specific proposals to absorb surplus Customs and Excise staff outlined in the report include: using Customs and Excise staff to fill normal vacancies arising in non-decentralised areas of Revenue and other Departments; transfer of Customs and Excise staff to other Departments; derogation for Revenue from interdepartmental promotion panels; the identification of what work, now done elsewhere in Revenue, could more advantageously be done by Customs and Excise staff; the identification of what new work in support of activities elsewhere in Revenue could be undertaken by Customs and Excise staff, particularly in relation to compliance and collection operations; the identification of how Customs and Excise staff might best be integrated into other areas of Revenue; the introduction, without delay, of a migration plan, for redeployment of staff between now and 1 January 1993 and the availability of a voluntary early retirement package in the context of the surplus staff situation arising in the Customs and Excise area.
All of these proposals are now being actively negotiated with the staff unions concerned and the Revenue Commissioners are keeping my Department fully informed of developments. The implementation of these proposals will demand a high degree of flexibility and co-operation on the part of the staff and the unions concerned. I would be hopeful that this will be forthcoming.