The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is currently seeking temporary veterinary inspectors (TVIs) for meat plants around the country.
The panel of private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) will support DAFM veterinary inspectors to provide meat inspection services at DAFM-approved slaughter plants.
The current hourly fee payable to TVIs for meat inspection services is €87.33, which takes into account that the department is not liable for any form of paid absence.
The department provided a list of meat plants where the temporary positions are required, as follows:
Troy Meats in Co. Westmeath is the meat plant with the highest number of vacancies (5), followed by Kavanagh Meats in Co. Wexford and Liffey Meats in Co. Cavan which both require four TVIs.
DAFM
Applicants for the TVI panel must be a veterinary practitioner registered with the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) and be under the age of 70.
Individuals, who have been permanently removed from meat plant panels arising from concerns in respect of their conduct or performance, will be considered ineligible to apply for placement on a panel.
The department said that the application process consists of several stages and applicants will only be offered a position on the panel if they fulfil all the requirements at each stage.
Initially, candidates must complete and submit the application form electronically by the closing date of Friday, March 15, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
Applicants may select up to four panels in their order of preference for which they wish to be considered and these must be numbered.
Where more applications are received than required for a panel, a lottery system will be applied.
Successful applicants will be required to complete an online induction course, approved by DAFM, on legislative requirements and ante and post-mortem systems and procedures.
They will also have to complete 30 hours of on-the-job training at the meat plant.