asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will now on reconsideration arrange that one of the staff from his Department's office in Tralee attend at Cahirciveen, County Kerry, for two days each week to deal with queries from farmers in the area between Kells and Castlecove who must now travel a round trip of up to 140 miles to deal personally with queries regarding the disease eradication and the EEC headage grant schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Advice Centre for Kerry.
8.
I have again considered the question of assigning staff from Tralee for occasional duty in Caherciveen or other centres and am satisfied that the proposal would not be workable.
In most query cases it is necessary to consult the Department's records and it would not be practical to move these from the Department's county office in Tralee.
Is the Minister aware of the frustration, hardships and delays being encountered by the farming community in the Cahirciveen area and around the Ring of Kerry as a result of the farmers having to travel a round trip of about 140 miles to have their queries and applications dealt with? What would be the cost of sending one of the staff to Cahirciveen one day per week? The Minister should bear in mind that that staff member would be paid anyway.
It is not so much that as the fact that the records are in the office in Tralee. The entire set of records would probably have to be duplicated. It raises further problems in that Cork, for example, which came up in the context of the same type of question recently, has so many outlying areas, whether Goleen, Skibbereen, Cahirciveen or Dingle, there could be requests for a whole series of offices in areas which are a considerable distance away from a centre such as Cork serving all Cork county and Tralee serving all Kerry county. As I stated perviously in reply to Deputy O'Keeffe, I am looking at the matter and if I thought that there was a practical way of solving the problem and saving people long distances as outlined in the Deputy's question, I would gladly take it.
Would the Minister consider sending one member of the staff to Cahirciveen on one or two days a week to take notes of the various queries and reference numbers from the farming community in that whole area who would deal with those queries on his or her return to the office in Tralee?
I will certainly consider that. However, the Deputy will recognise that the farmers will not be able to get satisfaction on the spot, that the query will have to be returned by the officer to the central office in Tralee. I will consider the Deputy's suggestion.