Up to 4,000 young farmers waiting to take part in Green Cert courses may not be able to do so.

Green Cert courses due to be run at Teagasc centres in Mohill and Manorhamilton in Co Leitrim and Ballymote in Co Sligo are under threat, allegedly down to a lack of staff.

Eamon Scanlon, TD for Sligo-Leitrim, says he was contacted by a number of young farmers over the past week who have been told the courses will not go ahead in June 2017.

“These young farmers have been told the course is most likely not going ahead this year and most likely won’t go ahead in 2018 either,” Scanlon told the Irish Farmers Journal on Tuesday.

“It’s very disappointing and I raised it in the Dáil last week with the Tánaiste. Looking after young farmers was included in the Programme for Government.”

The Green Cert is an essential requirement for young farmers and is needed to qualify for certain schemes and grants. It is also one of the conditions of stamp duty exemption on the transfer of a farm from a parent to a son or daughter.

As it is essential for young farmers, Eamon Scanlon said it was very unfair that young farmers may not be able to access schemes as “many have taken out leases on expensive grassland hoping to qualify for schemes”.

Brexit worries

With Brexit looming, the Fianna Fáil TD expressed concern about the effect it could have on farming.

“I feel Brexit is going to be detrimental to agriculture and I’m very concerned about that. We operate now at premium prices and that could cause huge problems if that were to change.

“It’s more necessary now than ever to have quality trained farmers for the future.”

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