Galway DVO to be axed by Department

MOVES by the Dept. of Agriculture to move the administrative section of the DVO (District Veterinary Office) out of Galway will be vehemently opposed by the IFA in the run-up to the General Election.

Earlier this week Galway IFA Chairman, Pat Murphy and county Livestock Representative, Michael Flynn, met with Government East Galway TDs, Paul Connaughton and Ciaran Cannon to express their concerns over the proposal.

Michael Flynn told the Farming Tribune that it would be a disaster for Galway farmers, if they were forced to ring up an outside call centre to access data and information.

“We have 11,400 herd numbers in Galway, the highest of any DVO centre across the country. For Galway farmers with veterinary queries, having to join a phone queue behind other counties, is just a nightmare,” said Michael Flynn.

He said that Deputies Connaughton and Cannon had confirmed that the DVO administrative section was to move out of Galway, but this would be opposed vehemently over the coming weeks.

“ Make no mistake about it – this will be an election issue. What we’ve sought all along is the centralising of all DVO and Dept. of Agriculture offices and administration services in the Teagasc complex in Athenry.

“As things currently stand, the other Dept. of Agriculture offices covering such schemes as the BPS [Basis Payments Scheme] and Glas [environmental scheme] have moved to Athenry.

“Surely the logical thing to do here would be to move the DVO office to the same complex. It may require some investment to refurbish the necessary office space, but this surely has to be the logical way to go on this,” said Michael Flynn.

Currently the DVO offices are situated at the Dept. of Defence building at Renmore in Galway city with the public having both walk-in and telephone access to administrative staff.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.