Minister for Transport Shane Ross recently signed legislation making Public Services Cards (PSC) acceptable proof of identity for anyone applying for a driving licence. However, for sons and daughters in farming families about to start the lengthy process of getting a licence for a car or tractor, the PSC is already obligatory.
The process now involves:
The young person first attends, in person, a Department of Social Protection office to obtain a PSC. It’s free.
When the card arrives in the post, he/she can then book – online – a driver theory test at the nearest Theory Test Centre. The fee for a car, tractor and work vehicles is €45.After passing the theory test, the young person visits a National Driving Licence Service centre to obtain a Learner Permit, with a fee of €35. An eyesight test is necessary and typically costs €20 to €25. The aspiring driver then takes 12 driving lessons, costing from €300 to €500. The young person can then apply online for the driving test. The fee is €85.If successful, he/she again visits a National Driving Licence Service centre and applies for a licence. The fee this time is €55.Big Week on the telly as farming gets trendy
Gillian and Neil O'Sullivan with their children Fionn (six), Hannah (four) and Tim (two). The family hosted RTÉ's Big Week on the Farm TV show. \ RTÉWith the weather stalling most outdoor work, The Dealer enjoyed several episodes of Big Week on the Farm on RTÉ.
I was most impressed by the farmer hosts, Gillian and Neil O’Sullivan, two vets who milk 110 cows once a day on their farm in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
It would be difficult to find two people better able to showcase how farming incorporates science, animal welfare and environmental awareness.
At a time when supermarkets are introducing “touch-free packaging” to cater for young people who are too squeamish to handle raw meat, a television programme showing exactly how animals are reared for food is badly needed.
RTÉ, Indiepics and sponsor IFAC did not shy away from the graphic nature of day-to-day farming either, featuring some in-your-face footage of a caesarean section and an operation on an umbilical hernia in a calf.
I’m told the viewing figures peaked at 246,000 people for the Friday finale – that’s one in five Irish TV viewers.
It was equally popular among the Twitterati, I’m told. Around 2.3m Twitter users reached by the hashtag #OnTheFarm during the week, bringing farming to a massive digital audience.
Heslin leaves role for new goal
John Heslin is leaving Teagasc to take up a position with MSD Animal Health Ireland.I’m told that John Heslin, the suckler and beef research officer in Teagasc Grange, is leaving to take up a new role with MSD Animal Health Ireland.
The Westmeath senior footballer is to become marketing manager of the ruminant division of MSD, filling the vacancy left by William Minchin, who became director of MSD’s ruminant business unit in January.
And I see that sheep specialist Frank Hynes is taking a career break from Teagasc to start his own business, Job Changer. It will help people who are unhappy in their current job to change in careers or set different goals and achieve more from their current role.
On a more positive note for Teagasc, David Kenny, its principal research scientist in ruminant nutritional physiology, was awarded the British Society of Animal Science’s Sir John Hammond award last week.
The Mayo professor is currently leading a €1.2m Department of Agriculture-funded project about reproductive function in beef cows and heifers, and recently began a €1.9m Science Foundation project about the control of puberty and semen quality in bulls.
Empty tags and empty pockets
The Dealer was delighted to see the new protocol on BVD sample reporting come in to place this week.
The Department of Agriculture will notify my tag supplier if a sample shows up empty in the lab, speeding up the process of re-sampling.
It’s a step in the right direction. But the Department said that the information gathered on this gives tag supply companies the “opportunity evaluate the performance of their product”.
And it looks like the farmer will still be expected to pay for the retest.
When asked, the Department said: “Payment in respect of all tags is a commercial matter between the farmer and the tag supply company.”
Big Tom's Four Country Roads is so embedded in the collective memory that it could validly be used as a citizenship test. The Irish Farmers Journal offices shared in the genuine sadness over the death of Big Tom that extended right across rural Ireland. Tom McBride of Castleblaney was known universally by his first name – a rare accolade only awarded to living legends. Four Country Roads is so embedded in the collective memory that it could validly be used as a citizenship test.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
Read more
A light in the tunnel can keep the darkness at bay
Minister for Transport Shane Ross recently signed legislation making Public Services Cards (PSC) acceptable proof of identity for anyone applying for a driving licence. However, for sons and daughters in farming families about to start the lengthy process of getting a licence for a car or tractor, the PSC is already obligatory.
The process now involves:
The young person first attends, in person, a Department of Social Protection office to obtain a PSC. It’s free. When the card arrives in the post, he/she can then book – online – a driver theory test at the nearest Theory Test Centre. The fee for a car, tractor and work vehicles is €45.After passing the theory test, the young person visits a National Driving Licence Service centre to obtain a Learner Permit, with a fee of €35. An eyesight test is necessary and typically costs €20 to €25. The aspiring driver then takes 12 driving lessons, costing from €300 to €500. The young person can then apply online for the driving test. The fee is €85.If successful, he/she again visits a National Driving Licence Service centre and applies for a licence. The fee this time is €55.Big Week on the telly as farming gets trendy
Gillian and Neil O'Sullivan with their children Fionn (six), Hannah (four) and Tim (two). The family hosted RTÉ's Big Week on the Farm TV show. \ RTÉWith the weather stalling most outdoor work, The Dealer enjoyed several episodes of Big Week on the Farm on RTÉ.
I was most impressed by the farmer hosts, Gillian and Neil O’Sullivan, two vets who milk 110 cows once a day on their farm in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
It would be difficult to find two people better able to showcase how farming incorporates science, animal welfare and environmental awareness.
At a time when supermarkets are introducing “touch-free packaging” to cater for young people who are too squeamish to handle raw meat, a television programme showing exactly how animals are reared for food is badly needed.
RTÉ, Indiepics and sponsor IFAC did not shy away from the graphic nature of day-to-day farming either, featuring some in-your-face footage of a caesarean section and an operation on an umbilical hernia in a calf.
I’m told the viewing figures peaked at 246,000 people for the Friday finale – that’s one in five Irish TV viewers.
It was equally popular among the Twitterati, I’m told. Around 2.3m Twitter users reached by the hashtag #OnTheFarm during the week, bringing farming to a massive digital audience.
Heslin leaves role for new goal
John Heslin is leaving Teagasc to take up a position with MSD Animal Health Ireland.I’m told that John Heslin, the suckler and beef research officer in Teagasc Grange, is leaving to take up a new role with MSD Animal Health Ireland.
The Westmeath senior footballer is to become marketing manager of the ruminant division of MSD, filling the vacancy left by William Minchin, who became director of MSD’s ruminant business unit in January.
And I see that sheep specialist Frank Hynes is taking a career break from Teagasc to start his own business, Job Changer. It will help people who are unhappy in their current job to change in careers or set different goals and achieve more from their current role.
On a more positive note for Teagasc, David Kenny, its principal research scientist in ruminant nutritional physiology, was awarded the British Society of Animal Science’s Sir John Hammond award last week.
The Mayo professor is currently leading a €1.2m Department of Agriculture-funded project about reproductive function in beef cows and heifers, and recently began a €1.9m Science Foundation project about the control of puberty and semen quality in bulls.
Empty tags and empty pockets
The Dealer was delighted to see the new protocol on BVD sample reporting come in to place this week.
The Department of Agriculture will notify my tag supplier if a sample shows up empty in the lab, speeding up the process of re-sampling.
It’s a step in the right direction. But the Department said that the information gathered on this gives tag supply companies the “opportunity evaluate the performance of their product”.
And it looks like the farmer will still be expected to pay for the retest.
When asked, the Department said: “Payment in respect of all tags is a commercial matter between the farmer and the tag supply company.”
Big Tom's Four Country Roads is so embedded in the collective memory that it could validly be used as a citizenship test. The Irish Farmers Journal offices shared in the genuine sadness over the death of Big Tom that extended right across rural Ireland. Tom McBride of Castleblaney was known universally by his first name – a rare accolade only awarded to living legends. Four Country Roads is so embedded in the collective memory that it could validly be used as a citizenship test.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
Read more
A light in the tunnel can keep the darkness at bay
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