Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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674. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the stakeholder group to develop a continuing professional development framework has not been set up; the progress made to date in establishing such a stakeholder group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60456/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The stakeholder group that the Deputy is referring to was recommended in a 2019 report commissioned by Macra Agricultural Skillnet with the support of Skillnet Ireland. The report stated that Macra Agricultural Skillnet would establish an advisory group which would have the remit of developing the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) framework proposed in the report.

As the Deputy is aware, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is supporting farmer education through dedicated training for individual schemes under the Rural Development Programme. Additionally, the Department is preparing to roll out training to approximately 50,000 farmers under the Agricultural Environment Training Scheme.

Further, Food Vision 2030 has set an action for the relevant stakeholder to “Examine the feasibility of establishing a CPD framework for young, trained farmers / seafood workers”. This will be progressed over the coming years.