Written Answers. - Limerick Customs and Excise Personnel.
Michael Noonan
Question:
118
Mr. Noonan (Limerick East)
asked the
Minister for Finance
his views on whether it is a fair procedure for the Revenue Commissioners, as decided in their recent report, to target Customs and Excise personnel in Limerick for redeployment and to allocate their work to other areas outside the region, despite the fact that their work will be largely unaffected by the creation of the Single Market and may even be increased due to new procedures.
Michael Noonan
Question:
119
Mr. Noonan (Limerick East)
asked the
Minister for Finance
if he will outline the way in which he justifies the decision of the Revenue Commissioners to single out the Limerick Customs and Excise headquarters for disbandment with the resulting net loss of at least 23 jobs to Limerick city and a significant reduction in service and availability to the public.
I propose to answer Questions 118 and 119 together.
The completion of the Internal Market in accordance with the provisions of the Single European Act and in particular the abolition of internal frontiers control will mean considerable staffing, operational and other changes for the Customs and Excise service.
The Revenue Commissioners produced a report in October 1991 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, which was presented to staff and the staff unions, showed that a potential surplus of 584 Customs and Excise staff would arise as a consequence of the introduction of the Internal Market.
A review of the findings in this report has recently been completed. The result of this review indicates that, based on current decisions and assumptions, the Commissioners now estimate that 604 jobs will be lost in Customs and Excise in the Internal Market context.
The scale of the surplus staff situation identified obviously has implications for the organisational structure of the Customs and Excise service. Under the present organisation structure the country is divided, for Customs and Excise purposes, into five administrative areas known as Collections. It was proposed in the October 1991 report that four Collections should be retained, viz Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Galway and that Limerick should be closed as the seat of Collection. The work now administered by the Collector, Limerick will be redistributed among Galway, Cork and Waterford Collections and the Collector's Office Limerick (23 staff) will be closed. The proposal envisages that the 82 staff currently serving in the stations attached to the Limerick Collection area will continue to serve in the same locations but within new administrative structures.
In making this particular proposal the future volume and concentration of Revenue work in the provincial Collections and the suitable location of administrative centres were taken into account to the greatest extent possible having regard to all the circumstances. The Commissioners are satisfied that the proposed closure of Limerick as the seat of a Collection will not impact to any significant degree on the service given to traders in the Limerick area.
The Commissioners have made specific proposals for the involvement of Customs and Excise staff in new areas of work which will arise post-1992 and which have the potential to provide substantial employment opportunities. While these new areas of work are likely to reduce the staff surplus figures from its current level of 604 it is not envisaged at this time that the retention of the Collector's Office in Limerick as an administrative centre would be warranted.
It is the aim of the Revenue Commissioners to try to provide a career for all Customs and Excise staff in, or close to, their present locations so as to minimise disruption to staff and their families. It is envisaged that the discussions between the Commissioners and staff interests will be ongoing as the situation develops in order to resolve this issue. Given a reasonable degree of flexibility on the part of Revenue staff interests there is a good possibility that a substantial portion of any staff surplus arising in Limerick can be absorbed within Revenue when the decentralisation of the Collector General's Office to Limerick, involving in excess of 500 staff, commences in the spring of 1993. I am asking the Revenue Commisioners to meet with the Customs and Excise staff in Limerick to discuss the issues involved.
