Agricultural colleges will not be closed under a rationalisation plan drawn up for their funding authority, according to the principal of the Methodist agricultural college in Gurteen, north Tipperary. This follows a meeting he had with Oireachtas representatives.
Mr Mike Pearson said he believed Gurteen and the other colleges would survive despite a recommendation to Teagasc to reduce the overall number of such facilities.
He was reassured when he met members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Tuesday. "Certainly the word at the moment is that colleges will not be closed," he said. The recent Kennedy report, commissioned by Teagasc, recommended that agricultural training should cease at Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, and Warrenstown, Co Louth, and either Gurteen or Rockwell in Tipperary (South Riding).
The issue will now come down to whether Teagasc will be willing to continue to provide capital funding for the colleges.
Their board will meet on December 6th to decide on the allocation of the £10 million available for the State's nine agricultural and four horticultural colleges. The director and chairman will appear before the Oireachtas committee on Wednesday.
The committee chairman, the Wexford Fianna Fail TD, Mr John Browne, said members would like to see all the colleges remain open and be equally funded. Gurteen, between Borrisokane and Birr, was established by the Methodist Church in 1947 to assist young people to stay on the land. It can cater for more than 100 students, but this year 81 students enrolled for certificate courses in agriculture and equine studies, an increase of a third on the previous year.