Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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278. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a green certificate course will be postponed until 2016 without sanctions by his Department given the inability of the course provider (details supplied) to provide the course and the course provider's disregard for participants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39294/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Teagasc Green Cert course has been developed to meet the training requirements for full and part-time farmers. Decisions regarding course delivery in particular locations are solely an operational matter for Teagasc to determine. I understand that an issue arose in relation to delivery of the Green Cert in the Killarney local office. I have been informed by Teagasc that they very much appreciate the concerns raised locally and regret that some applicants were inconvenienced due to the late cancellation of a scheduled course. It arose, in part, due to the current unprecedented demand for the Green Cert. Two part time Green Cert courses are commencing in Killarney this week catering for approx. 60 applicants. Teagasc recognise the challenges attendance poses for part-time farmers and every effort is being made to accommodate them.

The exceptional demand for the Green Cert is largely attributable to the higher payments provided for trained young farmers in the Young Farmers Scheme and the National Reserve. To ensure that the benefits of the ‘young farmer’ and ‘new entrant’ categories are targeted at those who have a genuine interest in farming as a career, successful applicants must have completed, or commit to undertaking, a recognised course of education in agriculture giving rise to an award at FETAC level 6 (Green Cert) or its equivalent. It has contributed to an almost five-fold increase in Green Cert enrolments from 500 in a typical year to 2,300 since late 2014.

I was pleased to be able to approve the recruitment of 40 new temporary teachers in Teagasc in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in order to specifically meet the demand for the Green Cert. Additionally, new arrangements have recently been finalised to provide Teagasc, with greater discretion to fill vacancies in specified, designated grades, subject to compliance with multi-annual pay ceilings.