Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests this evening from both Teagasc and UCD. I am looking around at all the titles and am getting nervous because I would say the last time I sat before as many professors, it was probably a disciplinary matter during my own college days. They are bringing back bad memories but hopefully we can move on from that. We are all aware that we blessed as an island and as a sector with the great education opportunities and the great education institutions we have. But it is a moving target in how science and technology keep changing. We can never say that we have achieved the maximum because there is always room for improvement. Based on that, I am interested in our guests' views on what we can do to improve and to keep up with the evolving situation. Some of the questions are for both groups and there may be some that are more specific.

If the witnesses put themselves in a farmer's shoes, considering all the changes in science and technology, the UCD courses are more diploma, degree or doctorate-related. Teagasc does it to an extent but I feel there is a need for distance learning courses, part-time and short courses. One does not necessarily need to get a degree or a diploma at the end. This is for farmers who are working by day but would like to upskill at night. Collectively, between both Teagasc and UCD, how can we square that circle?

There is another area where I would like to see more education and I am interested to know how the groups here think it could evolve and the role that they might play, namely, in agricultural, farming or food education for the public. I am going a long way back from the point where UCD is to the situation in national school but it is an area we should look at in Ireland. I was on a trip in Canada in a private capacity at its big bull show a couple of years ago. It was similar to the RDS. All day, kids were being bused in and there were all sorts of displays from a dummy cow, with kids being shown the cow calving and they realised then where the calf came from and butchers were set up with the different cuts. It educated the children right through the food chain. Agriculture is getting a lot of knocking and bashing in the climate crisis we are in but people do not realise that without it, we would have a food shortage. Many people do not even realise where the food comes from. I often tell the story of how, when we were young, my uncle lived in Birmingham. My cousins, who were my own age, used to come home every summer. We were milking our own cows and the milk would come in in the bucket and go into the fridge but the Birmingham cousins refused to drink the cows' milk; it had to come out of a bottle. They did not know that it was the same milk. What role can Teagasc or UCD play in educating society about where food is coming from?

I have some specific questions. Professor Boland mentioned the external advisory board. Will he elaborate a little more on its role? He also mentioned Lyons estate, which I and others on the committee were privileged to visit, and the need for investment there. He said that UCD has a lot of money to invest in it but it has fallen short. What requests, if any, has UCD made at Government level on this? I propose that if it is a shortfall from the Government side, we might take up this issue as a committee.

Food waste is another area that might be included in the area of general public education.

Specifically for Teagasc, there is a point I have mentioned before. I acknowledge Teagasc is all about part-time training but it has a rule for under-23-year-olds when it comes to the green cert. As it is a major issue, perhaps there is a way in which it could be looked at.

There are girls and boys under that age who are in farming families where there may have been a death or serious injury and where they are the farmer at a much earlier age than 23. Their input off the farm on a permanent basis would be a major loss. I know the agricultural colleges have to be kept going but if everybody went part-time that would not work either. There are exceptional cases where it is not possible for the student or prospective student to leave the farm on a full-time basis to go to agricultural college and I would appreciate it if that could be looked at. That is enough from me; I will give the witnesses a chance to respond.