6 Mar 2012, 18:00
The Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture today met with representatives from Teagasc, the national agriculture and food development authority.
Briefing the Committee were Teagasc Director Prof Gerry Boyle and Dr Tom Kelly, Knowledge Transfer Director with the agency. In a wide ranging presentation they outlined how they are curbing the impact of staff reductions on their frontline work.
Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee Andrew Doyle TD said: “There was strong support among Committee Members of Teagasc’s longstanding positive impact on farmers and farm families nationally. Its research, knowledge transfer and education programmes are fundamental to development of our agriculture potential. Committee Members expressed strong support that its office network, which has seen significant reductions in recent years, be maintained at current levels.
“The presentation starkly outlined how the authority’s staff by 2014 will have reduced 37 per cent from 2008 levels. The terms of the Croke Park Agreement are somewhat bluntly restricting Teagasc’s flexibility to recruit and retain highly skilled researchers and educators. The employment moratorium also impinges on Teagasc's ability to from employ specialists in projects which have received external funding. The Committee, in feeding into national policy on agriculture, will seek to highlight the restrictions that the Croke Park Agreement has placed on a specialist organisation such as Teagasc.”
“Teagasc last week announced its intention to seek a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency to plant GM crops at its research centre in Carlow, as part of an EU-funded initiative. In response to concerns within the Committee, Prof Boyle explained that the proposed experiment to examine the long term impact of GM late blight potatoes on Irish ecosystems would be carefully controlled.”
“The Common Agricultural Policy is key priority for the Committee and we will seek to harness Teagasc’s wealth of expertise in measuring the implications for Irish farming, as negotiations are finalised in the coming year.”
Ends
Ends
For further information contact:
Paul Hand,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 6949926
F: +3531 618 4551
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie
Committee Membership
Deputies
Tom Barry, Fine Gael
Michael Colreavy, Sinn Fein
Pat Deering, Fine Gael
Andrew Doyle, Fine Gael
Martin Ferris, Sinn Fein
Noel Harrington, Fine Gael
Martin Heydon, Fine Gael
Colm Keaveney, Labour Party
Mattie McGrath, Independent
Michael McNamara, Labour Party
Michael Moynihan, Fianna Fail
Éamon Ó Cuív, Fianna Fail
John O’Mahony, Fine Gael
Ann Phelan, Labour Party
Thomas Pringle, Independent
Senators
Michael Comiskey
Paschal Mooney
Pat O’Neill
Mary Ann O’Brien
Brian Ó Domhnaill
John Whelan