Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chairman and apologise for being obliged to leave the meeting for a little while. To return to Teagasc and the area of education in particular, I refer to the incentives that were introduced last week in the context of the recent CAP allocation. Obviously there will be greater incentives for young farmers to return to the farming cycle, which, while not popular a number of years ago, is now popular. Farmers who had off-farm jobs will find it difficult to return to education to qualify for these schemes. Is the provision of additional schemes under consideration to enable such farmers to qualify for future funding in respect of the top-ups and the 60% grant aid support that has been mentioned? To an extent, restrictions are in place on some schemes right across the education system at present and with the available funding, will such restrictions be maintained? Alternatively, is there a possibility of putting in place other educational courses for young farmers returning to the system?