Veterinary Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 October 2021

Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Questions (658)

Matt Shanahan

Question:

658. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of whole-time equivalent persons assigned to wildlife management within the district veterinary office in Waterford tasked to manage all aspects of the TB eradication scheme, in particular the management of wild badger numbers; the changes plus or minus within that recruitment resource number over the past five years; his views on whether the scheme is adequately resourced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49375/21]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Department is committed to ensuring that a skilled and motivated workforce is in place to meet its priority business needs and utilises workforce planning to identify and address these needs for all our locations.

Technical staff assigned to Regional Veterinary offices carry out a range of functions, among which include the oversight and management of the wildlife programme. The assignment of staff to various duties varies from time to time reflecting changing business needs, seasonal variations in activities and disease situations. Whilst business activity is not always confined to staff head-quartered in specific locations, the table below seeks to represent the estimated Full Time Equivalent (FTE) assignment of technical staff based in Waterford to wildlife management in the past number of years.

	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
No. of FTE	2.2	2.2	1.8	1.5	1

Arising from the recent departure of a number of technical staff from the Waterford, the Department is currently recruiting officers for the area where immediate priority will be given to TB eradication programme, including the wildlife programme.