The Department of Agriculture has come under fire after the Veterinary Officers Association (VOA) accused it of ignoring the need to recruit additional vets in the run-up to Brexit.

Despite promises made by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last October that an additional 300 veterinary posts would be filled to help deal with any potential fallout from Brexit, just 21 veterinary officers and inspectors were hired by the Department last year.

Border checks

A no-deal Brexit and the possibility of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic now look increasingly likely, as the UK parliament it yet to agree upon a satisfactory Brexit deal.

The VOA has called the situation an “impending crisis” and stated that a number of veterinary management posts remain to be filled, with one post unfilled for the last seven years.

“Rather than filling these posts through a mutually agreed mechanism that has operated seamlessly for 20 years, DAFM management has unilaterally decided to pick this moment to discard the agreement,” the VOA said.

The VOA added that it was a matter of deep concern for them that staffing levels remained below 2011 levels.

Vet dispute

Separately, Veterinary Ireland is due to vote on a deal that would end a long-running dispute between vets and the Department, which saw a vet work-to-rule situation evolve in factories over the Christmas period.

This led to farmer frustration, as factories were unable to handle kill levels and turned some farmers with finished cattle away.

The moratorium on vet recruitment since 2011 has played a key role in ongoing negotiations between both parties.

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