Creed Launches a Ten-Year Plan for the Development of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Regional Laboratories

As part of Project Ireland 2040, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, T.D., today launched a Plan for the Development of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Regional Laboratories, announcing an estimated capital investment of €33.5 million in rebuilding the Laboratory Network over the next 10 years.

Minister Creed stated, “Publication of this plan shows my department’s commitment to achieving scientific excellence and to further developing capability and expertise across all laboratory areas. The second phase of laboratories development which I am announcing today gives effect to our commitment to enhance the diagnostic services provided by our regional laboratories to the farming community and to make that service more accessible to farmers throughout the country.”

The Ten-Year Plan has been informed by the findings of a cost-benefit analysis and by extensive consultation with stakeholders. Ease of access to laboratory services is one of the key concerns of the farming community. On completion of this plan in 2028, 98% of registered herd owners will be within a one-hour drive of one of four regional laboratories or one of five carcase transfer centres that will be established in the border counties and along the Western seaboard.

The investment in the Regional Laboratory Network will progress in five incremental stages over the next decade, commencing with the establishment of a helpline and the first two carcase transfer centres before the end of 2020. This will be followed sequentially by the replacement of existing facilities in Kilkenny and Sligo plus the establishment of enlarged laboratories in Co Cork and in Athlone. Along with significant capital investments at each location¸ the Department will invest in teams of people with the skills and expertise needed to provide a world class diagnostic service - developing centres of excellence in the investigation of and surveillance for diseases in farmed animals.

Minister Creed stated, “The publication of this Plan also affords me the opportunity to acknowledge and to highlight the actions that are already underway, and some of which have been completed, to improve upon the scientific capability and operational efficiency of our laboratories in Backweston and Cork. Our staff articulated a vision for the laboratories to be scientifically excellent and are following through on that commitment by the actions they are currently implementing.”

In Backweston, the Department is reshaping how it delivers food safety-related laboratory services - bringing together all of the Department’s existing capability and expertise into two large multidisciplinary teams to assess and advise on each of the two major areas of risk to the food chain, associated with microbial hazards and chemical hazards, respectively. In addition, the Department is reorganising how it provides the essential supports, such as quality management and IT support, which underpin laboratory science.

Two laboratories (the Blood Testing Laboratory and the Dairy Science Laboratory) in Cork have been successfully merged into one entity that is now delivering a broad range of laboratory analyses to support the animal health, plant health and food safety related work of the Department.

A phased, project management approach is being taken to the design and implementation of this ambitious action plan to ensure its successful delivery, while all of the laboratories continue to deliver a quality service to their clients.

Minister Creed concluded ‘this plan for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Laboratories is the result of senior officials working with the relevant stakeholders (internal and external) to realise an ambition for the Department’s laboratories to be recognised as centres of excellence at home and abroad. This investment in the regional laboratories will assist the agri-food sector in ensuring sustainable food production - safeguarding the food-chain and substantiating our favourable animal and plant health status while achieving the ambitious growth targets outlined in Food Wise 2025. Department officials will be engaging with both internal and external stakeholders over the Autumn period.”

Note for editors

DAFM Laboratories comprise a central laboratory complex at Backweston and a network of regional laboratories. The laboratories employ approximately 300 staff, comprising a broad church of scientific expertise in animal health and welfare, plant health, seed testing, food and feed safety and authenticity and environmental protection. The Laboratories play a significant role in the delivery of official controls and various DAFM schemes – providing both analytical and advisory support for the Department. DAFM currently hosts 34 National Reference Laboratories at Backweston.

Regional Veterinary Laboratories (RVLs) provide a laboratory diagnostic service to the farming community – it is a referral service which can be availed of by any farmer in the country via the private veterinary practitioner (PVP) attending the herd or flock in question. The RVLs undertake post mortem examination on fallen animals at the request of a PVP and it is up to the herd or flock owner to make arrangement for delivery of the carcase to their nearest RVL. RVLs also provide a range of analyses on clinical samples collected on farm by PVPs who are investigating disease on their farming client’s behalf. RVL veterinary diagnosticians report laboratory findings to PVPs and provide advice and assistance (second opinion) to PVPs on disease prevention and control measures. A modest fee is charged for post mortem examination and other clinical pathology testing. A significant proportion of herd owners along the Western seaboard and in some border counties are at a considerable distance from their nearest RVL at present and are therefore unlikely to avail of the service. 90% of the caseload received every year by the RVL network comes from within a 65Km radius (or approximately a one-hour drive with a trailer) of one or other of the RVLs.

The diagnostic caseload that is voluntarily submitted by farmers and their vets to the network of RVLs provides the basis for two further “public goods” that these laboratories provide for the farming community and the wider agri-food industry. Firstly, it ensures that we retain a regionally-dispersed and rapidly-responsive expertise in the investigation of disease in farmed animals that can be mobilised at short notice in circumstances such as when a suspected case of exotic disease is notified to the Department, when particularly high levels of morbidity and mortality occur in farmed animals and/or where there is a suspected link between disease in animals and a threat to public health or the environment. Secondly, it provides baseline data on the pattern and frequency of disease in different populations of farmed animals in Ireland – this forms the basis for surveillance reports which support marketing claims about Ireland’s favourable animal health status and freedom from specific livestock diseases which have major implications for trade. This data and occasional disease alerts are also published in the farming and veterinary press so as to inform cost effective disease prevention and control measures on farm.

The first stage in the development of the new network will feature the establishment of a helpline for farmers and their vets which can be used to seek advice and assistance, to book carcases in for post mortem examination (PME) and for subsequent follow up of laboratory findings. It will also involve the establishment of two carcase transfer centres in Co. Donegal and Co. Cavan to which farmers can bring carcases which have been booked in for PME – and from where carcases will be delivered by the Department to Sligo and Athlone RVLs, respectively. The next two stages will see the design, building and commissioning of two state-of-the-art laboratories in Kilkenny and Sligo, replacing the existing substandard facilities there by the end of 2022 and 2024, respectively. The Department will then bring together the capability and expertise in its Cork and Limerick laboratories to establish a “Super RVL” at a green field site in North Co. Cork with carcase transfer centres in Co Clare and Co Kerry. The final stage will involve the development of a Super RVL in Athlone with a carcase transfer centre in Co Mayo. The RVLs in Kilkenny and Sligo will be designed to accommodate a staff team of 15 people, the Super RVL in Co Cork to accommodate 45 people and that in Athlone to accommodate 25 people.

The reports are available here.