Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Nov 2003

Vol. 573 No. 4

Written Answers. - Departmental Budget.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin

Ceist:

163 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his views on the statement from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association that the cost of operating his Department and Teagasc takes up one third of Ireland's total agricultural budget; his plans to try to reduce this cost and make the administration of his Department more cost effective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25578/03]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The administrative budget agreed for my Department in 2003 is €240.463 million. The allocation in respect of Teagasc is €120.379 million which is a knowledge-based organisation and whose main resource is its staff. The overall expenditure by the Department in 2003 is expected to be €2.845 billion. Therefore, overall expenditure on administration and Teagasc is therefore considerably less than the one third payments mentioned by the ICMSA.