The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, has said the Government has decided to further develop the department's decentralisation programme for Cork and the Munster region.
This follows a review of the department's laboratory services for the southern region and the local office service for Cork in the context of the decentralisation implementation programme
It also follows the decision to allocate land at Model Farm Road in Cork for the Affordable Housing Initiative.
The minister said that it has been decided to establish a new regional veterinary headquarters for Munster in Macroom.
This will involve the amalgamation of the three existing laboratories at present located in the Model Farm Road Cork and the two laboratories in Limerick into a modern laboratory facility in Macroom employing up to 100 staff.
Mr Walsh said it has also been decided to relocate the Department's local office from Cork city to Fermoy.
The Fermoy office will service Cork north and east and ensure improved access for farmers to the Department's services.
Meanwhile, the annual conference of the Public Service Executive Union, which represents 9,000 public servants, has heard that the Government's decentralisation plans came as a great shock to them.
The union's annual delegate conference in Tralee has been dominated by concerns over the decentralisation issue.
