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You are > Home > €75,000 spent on works at Department of Agriculture
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
€75,000 spent on works at Department of Agriculture
OVER €75,000 was spent on refurbishment and repair works at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food building in Enniscorthy at the height of the Celtic Tiger.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Echo reveal that €75,578 in works were carried out from January 1st 2006 to December 31st 2009.
Over 55 people are employed at the Department of Agriculture building at Vinegar Hill Lane, which is a new facility which was built when Ivan Yates was Minister for Agriculture in the mid-90s.
Employees at the premises work in veterinary, livestock and advanced environmental solutions.
Works which cost in excess of €5,000 during the stated period include: €12,445 for external excavation works and site evaluation, €5,266.40 for the construction of a patio area and screen fencing; while two new rooms, including fit-out, cost €9,588.48.
The balance of the works carried out over this period include: ‘essential reactive maintenance’ to the building, services, replacement and repairs where necessary, electrical and mechanical works and the supply and installation of emergency doors. The contractors employed to undertake these works were Flynn Brothers and SK Enterprises.
Late in the last decade there was a question mark as to whether the Department based in Enniscorthy would survive regional rationalisation changes, but local Fianna Fáil TD John Browne worked to ensure it remained in the county.
This led to Enniscorthy becoming a hub for the department in question, while offices were closed in Carlow and Kilkenny and their staff moved to County Wexford.
Junior Minister for Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Seán Connick said the county has done very well out of government rationalisation and decentralisation of departments, with hundreds more people very likely to move here within the coming years.
Min. Connick said the decentralisation of An Bord Bia and An Bord Glas to Enniscorthy will bring hundreds of jobs, while the water services’ branch of the Department of Environment will bring 110 jobs to New Ross.
With Min. Connick already bearing fruit for the county with the new JFK visitor centre in Dunganstown, he said he expects these projects to go ahead sooner rather than later.
“Wexford did very well out of decentralisation. The Department of the Environment building in Wexford town has brought hundreds here. A review will take place next year of Enniscorthy and New Ross. We would be hopeful that these will go ahead and a couple hundred more jobs will be here in the county,” Min. Connick said.
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