Minister McConalogue confirms schedule for additional in person training for SCEP participants

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, today confirmed the provision of additional in-person training events for participants in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) to facilitate farmers who cannot complete training online.

In light of the impending deadline for completion of the SCEP training by 15 November 2024, the Department of Agriculture , Food and the Marine has organised a further and final series of in-person SCEP training events as set out below. These are in addition to the five in-person training events held earlier this month in Kilkenny, Mullingar, Charleville, Claremorris and Ballybofey.

These additional SCEP in-person training events will take place from 9.30am to 2.30pm on the dates listed below and staff from the department will present all seven modules to SCEP participants who cannot do the training online. Attendees must register in advance and be in attendance for the full duration of the in-person training, which will last approximately 5 hours, including signing in and out of the training. SCEP participants cannot nominate someone to attend in their place and must bring photo ID with them to verify their attendance.

All attendees must sign in, showing a copy of their photo ID, before commencement of the training at 9.30am sharp – sign in will be available from 8.45am. All attendees must also sign out at the end of the training.

As of 18 October 2024, almost 8,800 farmers have already successfully completed the training online, well in advance of the deadline for completion of 15 November 2024, with a further 2,100 farmers currently progressing through the modules. A further 700 farmers attended the in-person training events held earlier this month, meaning that almost 70% of all SCEP participants have already completed, or are in the process of completing, their SCEP training. The online option has been the most preferable for most participants as, whether full time or part time farmers, they have the flexibility to undertake the training at a date, time and location which best suits them, rather than having to attend a specific location on a specific date.

Attendees must register in advance for the event they wish to attend, by:

• emailing scep@agriculture.gov.ie or
• calling the DAFM Helpdesk at 057 8674422

Attendees who do not register in advance are not guaranteed a place on the day if, when they turn up, the venue is already full to capacity.

No reminders will issue following registration, so attendees must keep a record of the date and venue they have registered to attend.

Attendees must remain for the full duration of the training – any participant arriving after 9.30am or leaving before 2.30pm will be deemed non-compliant and will need to attend another training event or complete the training in full online. Participants should ensure that they allow adequate travel time to get to the training location as training will commence at 9.30am sharp.

SCEP participants must attend the training in-person, they cannot nominate another person to attend in their place. They can however bring someone with them on the day to accompany them if they wish, subject to there being capacity within the training room on the day.

All SCEP participants must bring photo ID with them on the day of attendance for verification purposes. If no photo ID is provided, the participant will need to attend another training event or complete the training in full online.

A short comfort break is included in the scheduled times above.

In the interests of completing the training in as short as time as possible, no refreshments will be provided and thus attendees should make their own arrangements to ensure they have adequate refreshments for the duration of the training.

Any costs associated with attending the in-person training will be the responsibility of the attendee.

There is no payment for attending the in-person training.

Whether they are completing online or attending in person, farmers must have the training completed by 15 November 2024 to avoid removal from SCEP and loss of any payments already received.

To register to attend one of the in-person training events or raise queries on any aspect of SCEP or SCEP training, participants should:

• email scep@agriculture.gov.ie or
• call the DAFM Helpdesk at 057 8674422

The training is available to access online at www.sceptraining.ie. Each module should take on average, around 30 minutes to complete. Participants can do all the modules at once or complete them in stages. It is possible to partially complete a module and pick up where you left off the next time you log in. However, all modules must be completed in full by 15 November 2024 to be deemed compliant with the training requirement.