Ivor Callely
Question:132 Mr. Callelly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the total number of hours worked and personnel involved in the beef tribunal. [6468/95]
Written Answers. - Beef Tribunal Hours Worked.
It is not possible to give any precise indication of the number of hours worked or personnel involved in the beef tribunal as the proceedings involved the attendance of a large number of individuals called as witnesses as well as significant resources from a number of Government Departments, private companies, etc. Also personnel in a number of Government Departments, in addition to their normal duties, were engaged on an ongoing basis during and outside normal office hours on the discovery, examination and collation of data for presentation to the tribunal.
According to my Department's records, the number of Civil Service administrative personnel engaged full-time in the Department's Liaison Office, the Office of the Beef Tribunal and the Chief State Solicitor's Office during the public sittings of the tribunal was 16. Besides these full-time staff, a further 14 public servants were employed at various stages and for varying periods in the above offices. These included staff on temporary loan from other Government Departments and State institutions.
My Department also employed up to 40 temporary clerical staff on short term contracts to assist with the compilation of material for the tribunal. In addition to the above a number of other Government Departments maintained a presence at the tribunal but my Department has no record of the numbers involved.
Over the period of the tribunal, the State and tribunal legal teams comprised ten senior and junior counsel. My Department does not have full information on the numbers of legal personnel engaged to date by other parties.
A number of private companies and individuals were also engaged providing essential ancillary services over the period of the tribunal. Details of the number of personnel employed by these companies and assigned to specific work in relation to the tribunal is not available to this Department.