857. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of WTE qualified veterinary inspectors, by grade employed by his Department in 2023 and to-date in 2024, in tabular form. [44843/24]

Veterinary Inspectors carry out a wide variety of duties within my Department in the areas of animal health and welfare, disease control, physical checks on imports of animals, plants, and products of animal and plant origin etc.  The table below details the number of Veterinary Inspectors at 25th December 2023 and 21st October 2024.