Office closures to increase workload at Department of Agriculture
STAFF AT the Department of Agriculture office in Enniscorthy are facing up to a bigger work load as they take on the burden of business that used to be handled in Carlow and Wicklow.
While officials at Vinegar Hill Lane expand their remit in dealing with farm grants and inspections, many of their colleagues elsewhere are being switched to processing social welfare claims.
The move is part of a nationwide cost-saving campaign that will put 15 Department of Agriculture offices out of business by the end of next month. Enniscorthy has been spared in the cull, however, offices in Sligo, Longford, Kilkenny, Dungarvan, Drogheda, Dundalk, Nenagh, Clonmel, Thurles, Ennis, Killarney, Claremorris and Ballina, as well as the ones in Carlow and Wicklow, are all in the firing line.
The move has fuelled discontentment in Enniscorthy where staff are unhappy that extra work has been heaped on them at a time when they have been hit with pay cuts and extra pension levies.
