Dr. Anne-Marie Butler:

Recently, we had an event that looked at 50 years of EU membership and 50 years of agricultural education. Looking back, all the students then were going home to farm. What we have found in the past couple of years is that we are starting to see a small but a good increase in students who are coming to us who are not from farms. What we have been learning is that we need to get a bit better at telling people they do not need to come from a farm to study agriculture. Many worry about not owning land, and trying to get on that ladder is obviously a challenge in itself. Certainly, we are trying to do more there. As we mentioned, we have a new initiative whereby we are reaching out to the career guidance teachers and holding live webinars, streaming live and showing the colleges and the courses. We are showing what a career in agriculture is and what agriculture does for the community at large. It is a huge educational piece that perhaps we have all taken for granted over the years. I live in Kilkenny and I had a conversation recently with a woman who told me her son did not know where eggs come from. That is in rural Kilkenny. She was very serious in telling me about it. As head of education, I think we have a role to play in all of those areas. I noted the Deputy mentioned showing respect. It is very important for all of us that none of us takes that for granted because it is a very challenging time. From an education perspective, we should not assume everybody coming in to us is from a farm and what they can offer to the sector at large.