Mr. Tony Pettit:

The funding for the Covid supports came from within the Teagasc budget. Last year, there were some savings as the year went on because activities were not normal. All the funding measures we had for Covid supports were sanctioned and approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but they came from within the actual Teagasc budget and were approved by the Department.

Regarding demand, the strong area of demand has been for those adult green cert programmes, particularly in the north-west part of the country. We have had good support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine over the last number of years. Since 2014 a total of about 117 temporary education officer posts were sanctioned, with 20 approved earlier this year. They have helped boost our intake substantially in recent years. It would be very difficult for us to operate, plan and maintain a high level of intake without that level of ongoing support. This year we hope to enrol 1,500 or maybe somewhat more in those part-time distance education courses.

We will also be enrolling people in our full-time courses and across our higher education courses. In terms of gross enrolments, we are probably enrolling 2,500 students per year across various programmes. It is challenging in parts of the country and we need the temporary education officer support to provide that.

Demand in certain areas may be somewhat ahead of capacity. That is why we use the temporary education officer model to allocate resources on a flexible basis. Of the 20 education officers we are appointing this year, 15 will go to the north west, six to Donegal, four to Ballyhaise College, two in the north east and two in Mayo. As there was particular demand, we are trying to shift and match the resources all across that area. We also maintain our permanent education officer numbers to reflect demand in those regions, meaning that it would be somewhat higher than in other areas.

The ETBs are approved separately to run programmes by QQI. Teagasc has no role in that. It is a separate activity. There are areas between Teagasc and the ETBs such as learner supports and areas within courses. Teagasc has the strongest expertise in actual agricultural production and the financial aspects of it. There are personal development modules which we and ETBs could work together to deliver. There have been some arrangements locally in that regard.

On the second level agricultural science course, we do not have a direct input into it. We were involved in some of the earlier consultations. Our main remit is to help the students and teachers. For example, in projects, we can give them a steer, resources and information as how they might develop projects for fifth year and sixth year students.

We sit outside the National Training Fund. As apprenticeships are funded through the National Training Fund, Teagasc would be eligible to access that money. In terms of other schemes, such as skills to advance, we sit outside of that. If the ETBs were able to draw down funding for research from the National Training Fund and Teagasc was outside of it, there would probably be some disparity and that we would have a level playing field in that regard. Overall, with ETBs and some private providers, there is probably a need for some joined-up thinking in terms of industry and agricultural education training.