Bord Snip - Agriculture - Bord Iascaigh Mhara and An Bord Bia to be subsumed by Dept

[David Cochrane]

Projected annual saving of €7.3m per year

[industry-friendly]

Regarding an Bord Snips recommendation re absorbing BIM into DAFF, I believe this is a logical move for the following reasons;

The recent transfer of the marketing remit for seafood from BIM to Bord Bia means that BIM's activities are no longer market-led

The recommendation to "Transfer export promotion function for indigenous industry to Enterprise Ireland, including those of An Bord Bia and BIM.Transfer BIM’s functions and consider transferring An Bord Bia’s functions to D/AF&F and close BIM ice plants are also logical suggestions as EI have been funding numerous strategic development initiatives with various sectors of teh food industry and have a broad overview of the needs of various sectors including agri-food and seafood companies.

Fisheries was brought back under DAFF several years ago with the rationale that fish is food and should be treated as so by the wider food industry. The wider-food industry has benefited by millions of euros investment in infrastructure and knowledge development and it made sense to utilise some of this expertise to solve some of the problems of the fisheries sector. To date however the fisheries component of DAFF have operated totally seperate from agri-food and numerous communication problems are quite evident. There are very few examples of joint programmes or integration of seafood into wider food research to date.

The imminent completion of a stand alone seafood development facility in clonakilty, West Cork is a prime example of the lack of communication between the fisheries cohort of DAFF and sister agencies. DAFF already have numerous facilities around Ireland along with state of the art processing, lab and incubation facilities and if DAFF as opposed to BIM had of carried out a thorough review of existing infrastructure, it would have been quite clear that investments in collaborative programmes and not bricks and mortar would have delivered greater levels of service and lower running costs than a seperate seafood-only facility.

It is quite timely to explore the potential for a super food group consisting of elements from BIM, Teagasc, Bord Bia and most importantly Enterprise Ireland. All of these agencies are actively engaged with the seafood sector however little communication takes place regarding opportunities for collaboration. However as Teagasc, Bord Bia and BIM are mainly "food" agencies, Enterprise Ireland should lead this group as they have broader ranging expertise (IT, pharmaceutical, etc) from which effective models can be developed.

In terms of suggested amalgamations, this should take place at the programme and not the geographical level i.e. closure of agencies/facilities. Whilst EI are very strong in the areas of management and strategic development, the needs of the food sector are quite varied, ranging from R&D, marketing, business development, training etc. EI do not currently have the relevant personnel in these areas to carry out the hands-on work and therefore must link with relevant personnel in the various agencies to deliver these services. EI, giving their strategic capabilities, should carry out a full review of existing capabilities of the various agencies and should define business models for a new super food group. Inevitably, there will be overlap between activities of various agencies however a new approach is required to ensure staff and expertise are maximised for minimal cost.

A word of caution; It has been suggested that re-deployment of staff from one agency to another is what is required to ensure critical mass of people. Skills and priority areas will be identified which will fall outside the capabilities of existing staff within existing agencies and at some stage, additional resources will be required to bring in new staff to fill these areas. this could obviously be a contentious issue as an Bord Snip report has identified thousands of jobs to go. These new positions however will ensure th new machine works as it should and will make the whole model more sustainable increasing the lilkelihood that new jobs can be created in the future.

IF