Dr. Anne-Marie Butler:

There is great demand, which is good to see. The level 7 farm manager apprenticeship is due to commence on 4 December. It will be based out of Kildalton. Currently, it is working to a list of ten apprentices, but there are many people in the pipeline.

It is great to be up and running. I told one of the Senator’s colleagues about how I was in the Botanic Gardens to meet the ten apprentices. Their enthusiasm is a great reminder of what we do and why we do it.

Five additional staffing positions were made available to Teagasc’s headcount in recent weeks. They are working through our HR system in terms of being advertised and have given us the bandwidth to commence. As Professor O’Mara said, though, there is more to be done in this regard. We have seen a large increase in demand through inquiries now that we are operational. It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation as we get going.

It is a welcome initiative and our first move into higher education, which is welcome for us.