Teagasc eyes up €12m land deal but still faces ‘significant’ financial issues
TEAGASC could be in line for a €12m windfall from the sale of a 25-acre block of land it owns in north County Dublin.
The land at Kinsealy has been used for research purposes by Teagasc but this work is now conducted at its base in Ashtown, west Dublin.
Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week that while the organisation has not yet commenced the selling process, it has obtained professional advice as to how to maximise the value of its sale.
“We have an initial valuation without planning of about €12m,” he told committee members. Teagasc plans to reinvest the proceeds from the sale in its infrastructure but Professor Boyle added that this depends on approval from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
He also told the PAC that the state’s farm advisory and edu- cation agency is facing “significant” financial challenges.
“In the absence of access to borrowing facilities, Teagasc faces significant challenges in funding its working capital requirements,” stated Professor Boyle.
‘Challenging’
“Similarly, in the absence of a borrowing facility, longerterm capital funding for our research and educational infrastructure is even more challenging. Teagasc’s GIA (Grant-in-Aid) earmarks a relatively small amount of funding for infrastructural purposes which is only sufficient to partially cover maintenance costs and some minor works,” he said.
“More substantial infrastructural needs are funded as the opportunity arises through the sale of assets that are no longer programme priorities or through once-off special grants from Government.”
However, Professor Boyle added that “reliance on assets sales as a funding mechanism is not a sustainable basis” on which to fund infrastructure.
In 2017, Teagasc received €125m in grant aid (including €43m for pensions) and a further capital grant of €3.15m. In addition it generated €56m in non-grant aid income.
This income came from grants awarded to Teagasc in competitions for research and advisory funds at national and EU level, advisory and education fees, farm operations, industry levies and the sale of professional services.