Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Jun 1995

Vol. 455 No. 1

Written Answers. - Departmental Staff.

Bertie Ahern

Question:

170 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the persons appointed by him or by Ministers of State at his Department as programme managers, advisers, secretaries, assistants, counsellors or back-up staff either in his Department or in constituency offices; the annualised remuneration being paid to these staff; the names of individuals, groups or companies which have undertaken or have been approved to undertake full-time, parttime or casual consultancies, reviews, examinations or analysis or any public relations services on his behalf or on behalf of Ministers of State at his Department; the actual or estimated cost in this regard; the persons, companies, consultants, attachés or otherwise he or Ministers of State at his Department have appointed to semi-State bodies under the aegis of his Department; and any reviews, consultancies or reports he or Ministers of State at his Department have commissioned or are due to commission; and the full cost in respect of all these matters. [11916/95]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

1. The following table shows the persons appointed as programme managers, advisers, secretaries, assistants or back up staff in my Department and the cost of their salaries per annum:

Name	Capacity	Salary P.A.
		£
Michael Miley	Programme Manager	42,894
Thomas Tynan	Special Adviser to Minister	42,894
Flor Healy	Special Adviser to Minister of State	32,315
Geraldine Lannigan-Ryan	Personal Assistant to Minister	18,025
Marion Dennehy	Personal Assistant to Minister of State	13,937
Michael Kelly	Personal Secretary to Minister of State	16,697
Lily Quirke	Personal Secretary to Minister	9,302
Jeremiah Brick	Civilian Driver	13,185
Eamonn Sweeney	Civilian Driver	13,185

2. The following individuals and companies have undertaken or have been approved to undertake consultancies, reviews, examinations or analysis on behalf of the Department. Also included are any reviews, consultancies or reports which have been commissioned or are due to be commissioned.

Name of Consultants	Report/Review/Purpose	Cost £
Brendan Kearney and Associates, Agribusiness and Economic Con- sultants	Evaluation of the Compensatory Allowance Scheme.	22,143
Colin McIver Associates	Evaluation of Business Plan applications received under Leader II.	22,052
Not yet commissioned	On-going evaluation of implementation operation of Leader II.	N/A
SGS UK Ltd.	To carry out independent deboning tests in the context of the preparation of the Department's submission on the proposed EU disallowances.	35,000
Mr. John McCarthy, B. Agr. Science Consultant in Agriculture	Developing a database for calculation of the super levy at national level.	300
H. Griffith Quirk and Son, Ltd. K.P. O'Mahoney, Ltd. Cassebourne and Southern	Following a recent review of arrange- ments for transporting cattle to the Middle East the services of external marine consultants have been engaged to assist officers of my Department and the Department of the Marine in the process of approval of ships.	Fee in respect of each two day inspection is £1,140 and is paid by shipowners. No charge is made on the Exchequer. Review will involve at least 30 inspections.
Coopers and Lybrand	Review of the Animal Movement Permit Headage Project.	17,000
GEOSYS	Advisers to the Department for a Geographical Information System project.	120,000
Dr. A.G. Greenwood (an indepen- dent zoo expert from UK)	To assist the Department in its role of monitoring animal welfare at Dublin Zoo.	Inspections carried out twice yearly at £850 each time.
Deloitte and Touche and Jaakko Poyry (commissioned May 1994)	To assist in the preparation of a Strategy for the Development of the Forestry Sector to the year 2015.	201,000
Tom Murray, Price Waterhouse	Strategic Management Initiative.	Estimated cost 50,000 in 1995.

It is planned to engage consultants to examine the operation of the meat inspection service of the Department in the coming months at an estimated cost of £100,000.

Brendan Kearney and Associates were engaged in April 1995 to undertake an agriculture policies scenario study. The total cost and funding arrangements have not been finalised but it is likely that all or most of the costs will be met by non-Exchequer sources.

3. In relation to the portion of his question dealing with any public relations services employed by my Department, I would refer Deputy Ahern to Question No. 104 of 31 May, 1995. A total of £9,852.97 has been paid to consultants to date.

4. I have made appointments to the following boards of semi-State bodies under the aegis of this Department since taking up office.

Teagasc	Mr. Michael Slattery	Appointed 22-12-94
Irish National Stud Co. Ltd.	Mr. David Shubotham	Appointed 25-5-95
	Mr. Jim Beecher
National Milk Agency	Mr. Michael Lanigan	Appointed 27-1-95
	Mr. Aidan Dempsey
	Mr. Hugh Harkin
	Mr. Liam Chute
An Bord Bia	Dr. Noel Cawley	Appointed 1-6-95

I have not commissioned any reviews consultancies or reports in respect of the semi-State bodies.