Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for coming to deal with this issue this morning. I raise the issue of the need for the Minister to amend the age eligibility criteria for the green certificate core training course for young farmers. As we are aware, the green certificate is the qualification for young farmers. It is a necessary qualification for many reasons. Not only does it improve the knowledge and future farming abilities of the young men and women but it also is a necessary qualification in respect of stamp duty, inheritance tax and the receipt of some schemes and grants within the agriculture sector.

There are two ways for any young person to achieve the green certificate. The first is a full-time training course in an agricultural college. The other option is to study on a part-time basis through courses which are usually run by Teagasc. The anomaly and the issue I am raising this morning is that, to do the part-time course, one has to be older than 23 years of age. I have heard of a number of cases recently in which this was not at all feasible or possible for the young people in question. One particular example is a case in which the existing farmer, the father, is in ill health and the young person who wishes and is very willing to achieve the green certificate - and who needs to for the reasons I mentioned before including schemes and so on - cannot take the time to do the full-time course. By virtue of the fact that the person in question is only 20, he cannot do the part-time course. It is something we need to look at across the broader spectrum rather than just in this one individual case.

In the agriculture sector we have continual debate about the age profile of our farmers. We are continually discussing ways and means to attract younger people and a younger generation to take up the mantle and to become full-time qualified farmers. The fact that they cannot do the part-time course is a hindrance, especially because we have such a labour shortage at present and because there is such a promotion of expansion within the agriculture sector, which has greatly increased the workload on many of these farms. The young person in question is an integral part of the working of that farm and is a necessary member of the labour force. His loss for the duration of a full-time course would mean that outside labour would have to be brought in which is, first of all, not available. Even if it were available, in many cases, because of the low income margins of the farming community, especially the small family farms, it would not be possible to pay labour while the young person is away on full-time training. Allowing these young people to do the part-time course would be advantageous. They would become used to doing training on a part-time basis which, it is to be hoped, they would continue after they finished the green certificate. It would become endemic among such farmers to train while working and they would then be more freely available and more prepared to carry on with knowledge transfer schemes and further education down the line.

I hope this is something that can be looked at. The agricultural college is an integral part of our system and I do not want, in any way, to create a situation in which all people might jump on the bandwagon and pursue the part-time courses. That would be detrimental to our very good agricultural college training system. However, there are exceptional cases in which the fact that one has to be 23 to do the part-time course creates a big anomaly within the system.