Vol. 491 No. 6
133 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of people working full-time in processing the annual blood tests for farmers; if this staffing level has increased; the plans, if any, he has to allocate extra staff to the Sligo office so that blood tests for the western counties can be processed there rather than in Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12883/98]
The current number of staff — full-time equivalents — assigned to the brucellosis laboratory in Cork and on blood testing duties in the regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo is 65. This represents an increase of 25 above the normal complement due to the engagement of additional temporary staff and the transfer of staff for short periods from other areas to cope with the huge volume of blood samples being received as a result of the implementation of this year's intensive regime of testing.
The blood testing work undertaken at the regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo is designed to facilitate a quick turnaround of results for those engaged in the export of female cattle. While the Department has no proposals to upgrade the blood testing facilities in the Sligo laboratory, it is proposed to maintain the current arrangements and replacement staff are being assigned to fill temporary vacancies arising there.
I wish to correct information which I gave in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 119 on 12 May last in relation to the number of blood tests being processed in the Sligo laboratory. That information was based on statistics for the early part of this year but did not reflect the significant increase in throughput during March and April and which continued into May. The actual number of tests processed each month this year in this laboratory is as follows:
|
Month |
No. of Samples Tested |
|
January |
1,901 |
|
February |
5,156 |
|
March |
11,798 |
|
April |
15,870 |
|
May (first three weeks) |
11,108 |
