EXCLUSIVE: department reviewing regional vet labs

The future of the country’s six regional veterinary laboratories (RVLs) is subject to a review.

In May 2015, the Irish Farmers Journal exclusively revealed that the Department was considering closing three of its six RVLs as part of a streamlining of services. A working group was tasked with bringing forward recommendations on the future of the RVLs.

The review was headed by Professor Alan Reilly who is the former chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The group reported back to the Department before Christmas and the Irish Farmers Journal has seen the document the group has produced.

The group made a series of recommendations having “considered the current and future needs of the Department and its external stakeholders”. The report was brought to a management board within the Department.

The proposed plans

The report can essentially be surmised into three main recommendations.

The first was to keep all six RVLs in Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, Backweston, Sligo and Athlone open.

The second was to, in time, close Limerick, Sligo and Kilkenny, with an upgrading of the facilities at the other three labs, while the third was to close all bar Backweston and put out a fleet of vans on the road to carry out the roles of vets in the various RVLs.

According to the internal memo, “it is important to emphasise that a decision on any of these recommendations will await the outcome of consultation with staff and other stakeholders. In the case of the Regional Laboratories any decision will also be informed by a cost benefit analysis of the various options that have been proposed.”

Functions carried out at RVLs include animal autopsies and specimen sampling, as well as disease monitoring.

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