Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Dec 1996

Vol. 472 No. 8

Written Answers. - Departmental Spending.

Ivor Callely

Question:

124 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the total moneys spent on computerisation and related matters in his Department in each of the years 1995 and 1996; and the anticipated expenditure in this regard in 1997. [24234/96]

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

The expenditure on computerisation in my Department for the years 1995 and 1996 and the estimate for 1997 is as follows:

Year	Capital	Non-capital	Consultancy	Total
	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)
1995	1,901	2,086	62	4,049
1996	3,078	2,147	135	5,360
1997	5,328	2,472	1,026	8,826

The bulk of the capital expenditure in 1995 was on the further enhancement of the local office computerisation programme which began in 1994. This was in line with my commitments under the farmers' charter to improving the delivery of services to the farming community. This continued in 1996 with the beginning of the computerisation of the farm development service offices. With the increase in the incidence of BSE new control measures were put in place in DVOs, factories, marts and export ports. Extra computer facilities costing about £1 million have been put in place to support these measures. In 1997 extra funding has been provided by the Government for the development of a computerised cattle tracing system and for impoved accounting and audit systems in line with the Department's obligations under EU accreditation.