Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 March 2021
270. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the additional cost of external ecologists hired by the Forest Service; the agreed duration of their contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13791/21]
View answer271. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the external ecologist engaged by the Forest Service are operating to set targets, piece rate or hourly rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13792/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 270 and 271 together.
My Department has engaged external contracts as they are essential to delivery of our licencing targets. The ecologists are part of the overall licencing team which also includes archaeologists and forestry inspectors and administrative staff. The targets set for this team collectively are the overall licencing targets for the Department which are 4,500 new licences this year.
The Department signed a one year contract on the 17th June 2020 with an option to extend for a further two years. Under this contract, five full time ecologists were made available to the Department. In the event that this contract runs for three years, the total potential cost of the contract would be €1.5m, based on a per diem rate for each ecologist.
Further contracts were signed on 12th February 2021 in relation to five independent ecologists with each contract expiring on the 31st December 2021 with no option to extend. These contracts did not stipulate the provision of full-time services and, therefore, it is difficult to calculate the full cost of these contracts over their duration. However, the average daily rate is €330 and it is expected that some 600 days will be provided by these independent ecologists for the duration of their contracts. Therefore, the estimated costs is in the region of €200,000.
