Just 53 veterinary officers and inspectors have been hired by the Department of Agriculture since June 2016.

This puts the Department’s preparations for Brexit into sharp focus after the Government announced six months ago that it would be hiring 1,000 customs and veterinary officials.

The Department hired 21 veterinary officers and inspectors in 2018.

The information came to light in a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConologue.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said resource requirements in relation to the number of officers that will be recruited in 2019 are being continuously assessed.

This is despite the fact that an additional €7m was allocated for staff and IT costs in the Department for 2019 due to Brexit customs requirements.

As it stands, there are 22 full-time staff and one part-time staff member employed in the National Disease Control Centre and Border Inspection Posts Division within the Department of Agriculture, costing €844,597 in salaries and allowances last year. This includes nine veterinary officials.

Post-mortem services

Meanwhile, post-mortem services are still unavailable at the Department of Agriculture’s regional veterinary lab in Backweston.

This service has been unavailable for over a year due to staffing issues.

Farmers in the northeast must send animals for post-mortem to the labs in either Athlone or Kilkenny.

Separately, the Department’s moratorium on veterinary recruitment to the Temporary Veterinary Inspectors panel since 2011 is a key sticking point for Veterinary Ireland in negotiations on the vet stand-off in factories.

TVIs are paid €64.49/hour to provide meat inspection services at plants.

Veterinary inspectors employed by the Department are on a pay scale of €56,616 to €96,289.

By comparison, in Northern Ireland meat inspectors are on a pay scale of up to £31,760 (€35,397), depending on rank.

A veterinary inspector in the North can be paid £36,812 to £40,473 (€41,027 to €45,108).