Vol. 450 No. 6
178 Dr. Moffatt asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will speed up the appointment of inspectors to the food and forestry section of his Department in view of the backlog that currently exists in relation to forestry approvals. [5593/95]
It is my aim to ensure adequate staff resources for the development of the food and forestry sectors. As regards the Forestry Inspectorate, two vacancies occurred in the first half of 1994. These vacancies were filled in the last quarter of 1994 from a Civil Service Commission recruitment competition.
Two further vacancies occurred in August, 1993 and in February, 1995 at Inspectorate level with the forest service as a result of the retirement of lands inspectors. These inspectors were on long term secondment to the forest service. However, since October 1994, three lands inspectors are being retrained on all aspects of forestry at University College, Dublin. When this training is completed, they will be assigned on a full-time basis as forestry inspectors in my Department's forest service.
Arrangements are currently in hand within my Department to fill, at the appropriate level, the vacancy created by the recent retirement of the chief inspector, forest service.
