Vol. 395 No. 7
9 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his decision to restrict access by the public to various offices of his Department around the country is caused by insufficient staffing levels; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the farming community will be greatly inconvenienced by the decision.
The decision to curtail opening hours for a trial period of one year was taken because the increase in the number of personal callers prevented staff from dealing efficiently with their work and this, in turn, gave rise to backlogs, delays, etc. The curtailment of opening hours will allow staff to deal more efficiently with their work and should enable an improved service to be given to the farming community.
Is the Minister proposing to restrict access to the various Department of Agriculture and Food offices around the country? Is this being done despite the fact that with unrestricted hours many people feel they cannot get access to those offices? Does the Minister believe it will be possible to carry out normal duties under this new system whereby a farmer who has a problem in regard to blue cards or identity cards can either call or phone the office? Does the Minister really believe this will work at a time when all the feedback into the Department indicates that the offices are unable to cope with all the callers at present? It is a serious situation and I would like to know who thought up this proposal.
This proposal is for a trial period of 12 months and the benefits or otherwise will be gauged during that time and it will then be reconsidered. Similar offices that offer services to the public, such as employment exchanges, tax offices, banks and the Motor Taxation Office, operate restricted opening hours.
That is a different problem.
Will the Minister accept that the reason he is restricting access by the farming community to the Department of Agriculture and Food is that the Department have run out of finance to pay for very necessary schemes, particularly TB eradication and farm grants? Does he accept that because of delays on the part of the Minister himself there is a huge backlog, that farmers are frustrated in getting payments and that is why there is a large number of callers to the offices?
There has been a substantial increase in the volume of work in local offices since the setting up of ERAD, which gives rise to increased numbers of callers, diverting staff from their regular duties in those offices.
Surely that is a reason to keep the offices open?
In view of the huge workload that these agencies have to cope with, surely it would be much more important than ever to keep communication lines open between the farming community and the Department to ensure that disease is eradicated and that they are totally informed of the regulations. It is more access to information that is required rather than more restrictions.
Communication with any office or agency is always important but the completion of the duties which staff have to perform is important also.
Would the Minister agree that the volume of work arriving at the doors of the offices indicates the degree of problems that farmers have? Would he agree that his lock out response is totally inappropriate and that what he needs is additional staff?
The staff have been working overtime on a regular basis to keep work up to date.
The Minister is now answering the question.
