Warrenstown College staff impasse resolved

The Government has agreed to take responsibility for 16 members of staff of Warrenstown College of Horticulture in Drumree whose jobs were left in limbo following the closure of the college last week. While the staff were employees of the Salesian Order, they were being paid by Teagasc, via the Salesians, and the Department of Finance was opposing their redeployment to other Teagasc positions due to the ban on public and civil service recruitment. A Labour Relations Commission Rights Commissioner was due to decide on the matter last Thursday, but the matter was resolved prior to that following intervention by Meath East TD Mary Wallace. The Ratoath Dail deputy said this week: 'Following the recent coverage in the Meath Chronicle, and calls from staff at Warrenstown, I took the matter up with the Departments of Finance and Agriculture.' Deputy Wallace, former Junior Agriculture Minister, said she used her contacts in the Department of Agriculture, where she had spent three years as a minister of state, as well as officials in the Department of Finance, and dealt with Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith directly on the issue. She said she highlighted the fact that the staff in question were paid through the public service, were paying the public service levy, were in the public service pension scheme and, when they retired, would be getting public service pensions. The TD said that she studied the employment contracts of those that had them. A number of employees had contracts, while other hadn"t. There was a combination of different employment statuses in Warrenstown, with some 11 staff members employed directly by the Salesians and entitled to redundancy from them, and a further group of Teagasc-paid members of staff which the Salesians were not taking responsibility for. These included a small number already redeployed from Multyfarnham and Mullingar who were not affected by the impasse which had arisen. Ms Wallace said she was keen to get the issue resolved as she had a close affinity with the college and had been involved in various efforts to maintain its existence over the years, and she knew the families involved in the current problems. She said a huge amount of effort was put into finding a solution in the week or so following the local media report and staff contacts. On Friday, Teagasc announced that students attending the Warrenstown Horticultural College, which officially closed that day, will be completing their education in Botanic Gardens and the Kinsealy complexes in Dublin. 'Plans are being put in place to ensure that these 230 students are accommodated in the Teagasc Horticultural Colleges and all students who have started courses, whether last year or the year before, in Warrenstown, will be facilitated to complete their education,' the Teagasc statement said. It added: 'The teaching staff will also be transferring to Teagasc.' In October 2008, less than six months after selling the lands of the former agricultural college at Warrenstown, the Salesian Order and Teagasc announced that the horticultural college at Warrenstown was to close this month. In May of last year, the Salesian Order, which has been running the educational facility at Drumree since 1922, sold the 460 acres of farmland for €13.5 million. The order received the lands as a result of the will of local woman, Mrs Elizabeth Lynch, a descendant of the Warren family. The decision to close the college was taken following lengthy discussions and consultations between the trustees of the college and Teagasc, the board said at the time. Last Friday night"s 'Nationwide" programme on RTE television carried a feature on the closure of the college, which has generations of local farmers and those from further afield over 80 years before it became an exclusively horticultural college in recent years.