asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of the staffing arrangements for An Bord Glas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Bord Glas Staffing Arrangements.
65.
Pending the completion of the necessary preparatory work and the introduction of legislation leading to the establishment of An Bord Glas, an interim, non statutory An Bord Glas has been set up. It has been staffed by redeployment from within my Department of a principal officer who acts as chief executive. The Office of Horticulture in my Department provides necessary back-up and secretarial services to the board from existing resources, while the services of the horticultural staff and facilities of ACOT, AFT and UCD are also available to the board.
Is the Minister not aware that there is considerable uncertainty among the staff of ACOT, AFT and UCD in relation to the plans which seem to have been thrown together. Perhaps the Minister will confirm whether the staff will remain with ACOT, AFT and UCD or are they being transferred to a new board? What is the position? There is total uncertainty and indeed lack of preparation as far as I can see.
I reject what Deputy O'Keeffe says in relation to the establishment of An Bord Glas. Fianna Fáil in Opposition prepared a policy document for the development of horticulture; the central point of the policy document being the establishment of a statutory body of An Bord Glas which was freely available to everybody to read and to study prior to Fianna Fáil returning to Government. The position at present is that the interim board, at its last meeting, decided to establish a number of commodity teams which embraces personnel both from ACOT, AFT, producer groups and others to tackle the various areas in the industry which need to be tackled immediately.
What is the future for the staff? The policy document to which the Minister has referred made reference to the professional staff at Kinsealy. There are professional staff, technical staff, administrative staff and farm staff; are they to remain with AFT or will they be transferred to the new board. The same question arises in relation to the horticultural staff, horticultural advisers and specialist advisers in ACOT. What is their future? They are interested to know. Do not tell me it is not a real issue. They have been asking me and I now ask the Minister to make a clear statement on the situation even at this late stage.
The necessary preparatory work for the establishment of the statutory board, An Bord Glas, is under way at present. The discussions and the dialogue which will be taking place with representatives of AFT, ACOT and other bodies who will have an involvement is under way at present. That whole process of dialogue and discussion will be taken cognisance of when the final draft for the statutory board comes before this House in the autumn session.
Mr. O'Keeffe
Is it the Governments' intention to have the staff transferred to the new board or to remain with the bodies with which they are now working?
The process of discussion and agreement with the representatives of the different bodies will eventually lead to the establishment of the statutory body of An Bord Glas which we hope to have up and running by the end of the year.
Mr. O'Keeffe
My question is not answered.
I now come to deal with the last question nominated for priority in the name of Deputy O'Keeffe.