Pension pot demand continue to hamper Teagasc

“We have more pensioners than staff.”

That was the blunt observation of Teagasc chairman Dr Noel Cawley at the publication of the semi-state’s annual accounts for 2013, on Tuesday. Of Teagasc’s €160m income this year, €40m went on pensions.

Outlining the challenges ahead, Teagasc director professor Gerry Boyle said the abolition of milk quota next April means that a lot of farms are gearing up for expansion. However, the embargo on recruitment was causing problems for Teagasc to be able to provide a one-on-one advisory service.

Because of the moratorium on public sector recruitment, along with the cessation of REPS, Teagasc staff levels have decreased from 1,600 in 2009 to 1,100 at present.

Professor Boyle said that it would be far easier to operate with a budget expenditure limit than a limit on employee numbers. He said that this greater flexibility would make it easier to recruit staff as vacancies arose, and added that it was very “demotivating” to be stuck in the same employment grade without the prospect of promotion.

Boyle said there were a number of “mission critical” positions that need to be filled and that the Department of Public Expenditure was sympathetic to this.

He acknowledged that there has been some “brain drain” of the organisation’s research sector, with former head of food science Paul Ross leaving to join UCC and fertilizer guru Stan Lalor leaving to join Grassland AGRO.

Professor Boyle said he expected that 15,000 of Teagasc’s 43,000 farmer clients would seek to enter the GLAS scheme.

To meet the demand for advisory services arising from this, he said Teagasc will be seeking a strategic partner from the private sector and a request for tender will be issued within the next week.

Teagasc now has 250 frontline advisers working across the country.

Professor Boyle said that, excluding pension requirements, it made some financial sense for Teagasc to employ its own advisers because the income they deliver outweighs the cost of employing the adviser. An adviser’s 140 or so clients would generate an average income of €47,000/year.

The cost of employing an entry-level adviser is a salary of €35,000, along with approximately €5,000 for travel and subsistence.

In relation to beef prices, Dr Cawley said it was the remit of Teagasc to provide technical advice on farm efficiency and not advice on what the marketplace is doing.

However, he agreed that market information needs to be fed back into the education sector so that farmers are better informed about options in bull beef production and the size of animals to produce for slaughter.

Total Teagasc income for 2013 was €163.16m. Of this, €10.4m came from advisory fees, down approximately €400,000 on 2012.

Teagasc’s accounts show that the staff overtime bill reduced from almost €1.2m in 2012 to €1m in 2013.

During that year, 164 staff received overtime payments – the highest amount was €24,848.

In relation to expenses, €591,000 was spent by Teagasc on foreign travel.

The accounts also state that during 2013, nine staff were awarded contracts of indefinite duration on foot of hearings at the Labour Court and the Rights Commissioner.