Council seek ministerial intervention on unit closure

The closure and relocation of the pig unit at Ballyhaise Agricultural College to Cork earlier this summer has prompted the elected members of Cavan County Council to seek Ministerial intervention in an eleventh-hour bid to restore the 100-sow production facility.

Councillors will write to the Minister of Agriculture, Simon Coveney, after Teagasc announced last June that the local unit is in need of significant investment, which can’t be justified as it is not critical to the delivery of the Level 5 Pig Production course.

The national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to agriculture and the food industry added that, for biosecurity reasons, the facility is also not suitable for education purposes.

Placed on the agenda for discussion by Fine Gael’s Paddy O’Reilly “with sadness and anger”, the Murmod councillor says the closure was yet another major blow to the historic agricultural college following the closure of the mushroom growing unit in 2000, and its poultry unit in 2007.