The vast majority of the buildings of DAFF Laboratories, at Backweston are completely operational and functioning as intended. Amelioration works on some areas of the laboratories are required prior to they coming on stream. These are expected to be completed during 2011. The move to and the concentration of laboratory facilities at Backweston has provided state of the art facilities to DAFF in terms of meeting its requirement for laboratory facilities.
While some tests in the animal health area are referred to laboratories abroad eg for testing for exotic viruses etc. (see below) it is envisaged that the need for such referrals will diminish in the future, as DAFF Laboratories continue to introduce new analytical methods and technologies with the objective of meeting a higher proportion of our needs and thus minimising our dependency on external laboratories. Also, the DAFF Laboratory facilities at Backweston are capable of dealing with DAFF's analytical requirements to a considerable degree but do not meet all of DAFFs requirements. DAFF still needs to outsource certain elements of its analytical requirements to other national and international laboratory service providers. In particular in times of emergency, such as in the case of the dioxin crisis, samples were sent abroad for analysis to ensure the problem was fully quantified and brought to a conclusion as rapidly as possible (DAFF laboratories at Backweston should not be confused with the State Laboratories of the Department of Finance which are also on the Backweston site).
The staff in DAFF laboratories are highly committed and make themselves available for a rapid response even out of hours when necessary. Samples turnaround times vary depending on the complexity of the tests involved and predicted turn around times are complied with in most instances in DAFF laboratories. Computerised data are not yet available for all the divisions receiving samples for testing in DAFF Laboratories. For this reason the exact weekly figures are not readily available and vary per week within and between each year. However, the total mean weekly figures for DAFF's Regional Laboratories and the divisions at DAFF laboratories Backweston are given below, bearing in mind that many of the samples submitted are subjected to a number of tests within laboratories and divisions.
The mean weekly number of samples tested in the Central and Regional DAFF Laboratories in 2006 was 98,170 samples per week; in 2007 it was 96,797 samples per week, in 2008 it was 93,871 samples per week, in 2009 it was 89,989 samples per week, so far in 2010 the figures are running at approximately 69,000 samples per week.
A number of samples are sent abroad annually for tests which are not carried out at DAFF laboratories eg typing of bacteria, tests for exotic viruses, confirmatory testing, toxin or residue analysis etc. or where the in-house resources are inadequate to carry out testing. This may vary annually depending on circumstances. In 2006 the mean weekly number of samples sent abroad for testing from DAFF laboratories was 17 in 2006 and 2007, it was a mean of 19 samples per week in 2008 and a mean of 18 samples per week in 2009. To date in 2010 the figure is running at approximately 20 samples per week.
There are ongoing discussions between DAFF and the Department of Finance in relation to the recruitment of staff, of which a number will be assigned to laboratory duties. When sanction is received, these staff will be recruited and will contribute to reducing our dependency on external laboratories. Demands on laboratory resources are however, expected to increase further due to the introduction of new EU legislation and its associated testing requirements and also the implications of incentivised leave and retirement schemes.
