Cllr to call for update on vet lab that was promised to Sligo five years ago
WHY a promised regional state of the art veterinary lab to be based at the existing site in Dunally, Sligo, has not been delivered almost five years after it was promised has been raised by a Sligo Sinn Féin councillor.
Cllr Thomas Healy pointed out to the Sligo Weekender that the announcement was well signalled in local media in September 2019, but “nothing has transpired since to suggest the new lab is on the way - what’s the delay”.
He said: “I am calling out the Government on this - it was announced by Minister Michael Creed, Fine Gael at that time and among others local Fianna Fáil deputy of the time Eamon Scanlon rightly welcomed it, and it made great reading, with an indication that it would be delivered by 2024.
“This is 2024 now and the trail has gone cold, there isn’t a word about it, so I am now calling on Sligo County Council to write to the Minister for Agriculture for an update on the commitment to build this new regional vet laboratory in Sligo, this is a very important facility for the farming community in this region.”
He told the Weekender: “I haven’t heard anything about it, I’m concerned. Years ago, when we raised this at meetings our worry was that the existing lab at Dunally which services Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan and Mayo was going to be phased out in favour of the other labs elsewhere in the country which have seen development.
“We were assured its future was safe. I’m not saying it’s not, but I am worried now that there seems to be very little happening and I do recall in 2019 headlines saying the lab would be slightly delayed and would be delivered in 2024 - will it? That’s why I am raising this and that’s why I’m asking Sligo County Council to support me in asking the current minister for agriculture, a Donegal man [Charlie McConalogue] for answers.”
In 2019 the Sligo Weekender reported that plans for a new regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo have been announced by Agriculture Minister, Michael Creed but the facility was not scheduled to be in place until the end of 2024.
At that time former Fine Gael Deputy Tony McLoughlin described the announcement as “great news” for the farming sectors in the North West Region. Then fellow Fianna Fáil TD, Eamon Scanlon said in 2019 that the announcement secured the long-term future of the Sligo Veterinary Lab, and the planned development should be of benefit to the farming community in the region who had been left behind by government.
Asked why he felt he needed to make this call, he said: “We have seen no progress on this since it was announced by Minister Creed in 2019, we all know the importance of it. I don’t think any minister for agriculture has mentioned it since.
“It’s vital for farmers in this region who bring animals there to get tested. It’s a huge service. The lab at Dunally is supposed to match the other ones elsewhere on the island in terms of what services it can offer farmers, and that’s what the announcement in 2019 promised, but it’s not the same as the others and none of the promised work has happened. At the time [2019] we were afraid the services would be taken out of Dunally altogether, we were assured that was not the case, and I feel that is still the case, but it’s time we saw something happening - it’s dragging on and notwithstanding the way Covid slowed things down on many fronts, it’s time now to see movement. All I have seen is the arrival of two portacabins, we need what was promised to be delivered.”
He added: “Charlie McConalogue is from he region, so he should know the importance of having this in this area. It’s been four years, heading for five since we raised our concerns, we got definite commitments, we saw plans, we just seem to be waiting here, on the hind tit.”