Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I echo the Christmas wishes to the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas, including my Senator colleagues, their staff, families and friends. I hope they have a good one.

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit my home county of Mayo thanks to an old national school friend from Ballindine, Sabina Trench, who is now the CEO of South West Mayo Development Company. We have known each other since we were four years of age. It was a surreal experience for us to meet through our work years later having taken such different paths since school. It goes to show how life can twist and turn and yet there are these wonderful points at which paths crossed and are aligned, which makes what we do so worthwhile. In Balla, I had the opportunity to hear about the supports for local food producers such as Velvet Cloud, Achill Island Sea Salt, and Mescan Brewery. This is something about which I am passionate, and I echo the call to support people by shopping local this Christmas. It was lovely to see the community kitchen for new food business start-ups where I was able to sample some delicious Nollaig nog, the Irish version of eggnog, which is produced locally and is, apparently, available in some retailers across the country, so look out for that.

I also visited the Mayfield Lake greenway in Claremorris, a LEADER funded project and a collaboration between Mayo County Council, the Forest Service, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Claremorris Chamber of Commerce and Claremorris wildlife club. It is a collaborative initiative that has brought the community together for this wonderful purpose. The 3 km walkway is around Mayfield Lake and serves as a sister to the 5 km walkway around Clare Lake, literally, across the road.

The highlight of my visit to Mayo was to Oliver and Anna Dixon's organic farm near Claremorris. This farm is extra special because it takes part in social farming, an initiative that offers people who are socially, physically, mentally or intellectually disadvantaged the opportunity to spend time on a family farm in a healthy, supportive and inclusive environment. There I met Eric Kilcourse from Ballyhaunis and Padraig Prendergast from Kilkelly who, through a Western Care Mayo initiative, have been coming to this farm in recent years. It was heart-warming to see the relationship between Eric and Padraig and the farm owners Oliver and Anna. While I was there, I helped fork in the silage to the cattle, and they showed me the two Christmas wreaths they made earlier that day with Anna, an accomplished artist.

A variety of farm types can and do engage in social farming. It provides these people with the opportunity to do ordinary things in ordinary places. My Department provides significant supports to these worthwhile initiatives. In September, we announced funding of €377,000 to support social farming models, an area for which I would like to see further supports. Social farming is an outcome focused support placement and to date has supported nearly 6,500 placement days for about 800 participants on nearly 80 social farms across the country, including two in my constituency of Laois-Offaly which I hope to visit in the new year. I encourage my senatorial colleagues to do likewise. They should find a farm near to them and arrange a visit. They will not be disappointed. If my visit was anything to go by, they will leave feeling inspired and, frankly, in awe of the wonder that is there in our rural communities.