Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Nov 2001

Vol. 544 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Departmental Dispute.

Mr. Connaughton

I wish to share my time with Deputy McCormack.

Since last Friday, the office of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Hynes Buildings, Galway has cut itself off from all telephone contact with the outside world. I understand this has hit County Galway farmers very hard. I also understand the Department's head office in Dublin and its offices in Castlebar and other locations cannot get through to the office in Galway. This curtailment of service is causing havoc for thousands of farmers and gets worse as each day passes. The cause of the problem appears to be that staff in Hynes Buildings are totally frustrated with the snail's pace of progress in finding suitable office accommodation. They have a bona fide case on this occasion.

I am very familiar with the office concerned, as is the Minister of State at the Department, and it is absolutely true to say that it does not measure up to present day requirements. The space is insufficient to allow the staff to give the level of efficient service which they would like. Moreover, the Office of Public Works, which has a major responsibility in the matter, has not distinguished itself greatly in this instance. It can hardly be surprised at the reaction to its failure to provide a suitable building in Galway over such a long period.

My information on the current situation is based mainly on my contact with the farming community, rather than any direct contact with the staff, but it appears that the Minister must intervene tomorrow morning and set a deadline date which the staff have been seeking for many years. It is quite possible to do this. It is most unfair to those farmers who have problems with their file records. The staff are continuing to work on those files which are in order, but where there are problems requiring an input from the farmers concerned they cannot be expected to travel into Galway from Clifden, Ballinasloe and other places – that is what the telephone is for. If files are not properly updated, payments will be delayed, as the Minister of State well knows.

This has been a problem for a long time, like a time bomb which had to go off eventually. I urge the Minister of State and his senior ministerial colleague to intervene tomorrow morning with a view to getting heads together, as between the Department and the Office of Public Works, to sort out this matter once and for all.

Mr. McCormack

Having failed in my attempt to raise this matter on the Order of Business, under Standing Order 31, I am glad that Deputy Connaughton succeeded in raising it on the Adjournment. It is a serious matter in County Galway, both in the west and east of the county. A go-slow and failure to answer telephones are worse than a strike. If there is a strike, with everybody out, somebody will intervene to solve it quickly. In the present go-slow it appears work is going on behind closed doors, but there is no contact with the outside world, either through public representatives or the general public.

I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Cuív, to take steps to solve this acute problem, of which he is well aware. It is particularly serious for Connemara farmers, in particular, including difficulties with regard to acreage and other matters which have to be resolved through telephone contact with the Galway office. It will have to be solved sooner or later. If it is an accommodation problem, as the staff say it is, that problem must be addressed urgently. The Minister of State should meet the staff and tell them what he proposes to do to resolve the problem in order that normal communications can be restored.

Éamon Ó Cuív

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an mbeirt Teachta a shocraigh an ceist seo a thógáil. Tuigim cé chomh tromchúiseach is atá sé. I appreciate, as the Deputies have outlined, how serious an issue this is, both for the staff involved and also for the farming community. I regret the disruption to the farming community which is being caused by the dispute.

My Department has been in correspondence with the Office of Public Works for several years to provide the additional accommodation, either in the existing Hynes Buildings or elsewhere in Galway city. In County Galway there are approximately 150 staff of my Department located in Hynes Buildings, Murrough, Tuam and Loughrea. The staff in Hynes Buildings, in central Galway city, work in the district veterinary office and the district livestock office administering various schemes, including the area based compensatory allowance scheme, the suckler cow premium scheme and the ewe premium scheme.

The office accommodation in Hynes Buildings has been barely adequate for some time and the Department received sanction from the Department of Finance in April 2001 to acquire an additional 12,000 square feet of office space. Detailed accommodation briefs had been supplied to the Office of Public Works, the office charged with responsibility for acquiring or leasing office space for Government Departments and Offices. At the time it was understood that an existing tenant in Hynes Buildings was vacating the premises and the intention was that this space would be acquired by the Office of Public Works. This was an ideal solution, as it would retain the integrity of services being provided at the local office. However, by late summer, it transpired that this space was not being vacated and the Office of Public Works had to seek alternative accommodation on the open market.

On 1 November the Department was notified by the Civil and Public Service Union, CPSU, the trade union representing clerical staff, that they were commencing limited industrial action from 8 November, in the light of the failure to improve staff accommodation in the Galway office. The industrial action began with a ban on the use of telephones and fax by staff. The CPSU has warned that the action may escalate to include closure of the public office, strict application of clerical office duties, refusal to do work of other grades and refusal to cover the work of staff who have left the office for whatever reason.

While I appreciate that the present industrial action will cause inconvenience to some farmers who wish to telephone or fax the local office, I am satisfied that processing of all outstanding applications under the various schemes can be completed within the timeframe set out in the protocol on direct payments to farmers. The position in so far as payments under the 2001 area based compensatory allowance scheme, the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme and the 2001 ewe premium scheme are concerned is that almost £31 million has already been paid to farmers in County Galway under these schemes. This represents 92%, 61% and 94% of applicants respectively under these schemes and compares very favourably with the payment position in other counties.

A meeting will take place early next week involving officials from the Office of Public Works, the Department and staff representatives to agree both a short-term and long-term solution to the accommodation situation. The Deputies can be absolutely assured that I will do all in my power to see that this matter is brought to finality, to the satisfaction of all concerned, as speedily as possible.