Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 February 2014
579. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to increase staffing levels in agricultural colleges to meet the demands of new students enrolling in the colleges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9015/14]
View answerUnder the Agricultural (Research, Training and Advice) Act, 1988, Teagasc has responsibility for the provision of education and training services to the agricultural sector. These services are delivered through a network of agricultural colleges, regional education and local centres and in collaboration with three privately-owned colleges. Within the various colleges and at local level, Teagasc provide an extensive range of courses in agriculture, horticulture, equine studies and forestry. They currently cater for in excess of 2,000 full time college students, some 10,000 adult learners and also provide degree level courses in collaboration with various Institutes of Technology. A small number of VEC colleges have also commenced provision of Green Cert courses.
There has been a large increase in the demand for student places in recent years reflecting the positivity towards the Agri- food and farming sectors generally. The allocation of resources in Teagasc to the education function is an internal operational matter for Teagasc management. To cope with the increased demand, Teagasc was granted exceptional sanction in 2011 to recruit six contract teaching staff in the agricultural colleges. This measure was complemented by other Teagasc initiatives including increased student- teacher ratios, redeployment of six advisory staff to the colleges and subcontracting the delivery of specific education modules across a number of colleges and local centres.
They were subsequently approved to fill a further 6 positions on a temporary basis for periods up to 12 months in respect of teaching staff on short term leave etc. In addition, my Department in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform recently approved the filling of 11 mission critical posts in Teagasc on an exceptional basis under the moratorium. Additional teaching resources were approved under this measure.
