Sir, - It is with great regret that I learn of the possible closure of Gurteen Agricultural College. What a tragedy this would be for the agricultural community.
It is a shame that any agricultural college should close, but my particular affinity is with Gurteen, where I studied for a year in the late 1970s. When I decided I wanted to have a life in farming, it was the only college which educated girls. This alone showed its progressive thinking only 20-odd years ago.
Gurteen has had female students from its very inception. The Minister for Agriculture, in a recent speech at the National Ploughing Championships, talked of how undervalued women have been in farming. Gurteen has always valued women. It has always moved with the times and more often than not has been ahead of its time.
Gurteen is a Methodist-run college, the only one in the Republic. To close it would eliminate the Protestant ethos from Irish agriculture. Surely diversity in thinking is a positive thing. The Protestant community has contributed immeasurably to agriculture and the economy as a whole over the decades. So I do think it would be a very great injustice to close this much loved college.
I hope we will see Gurteen continue for at least the next hundred years. - Yours, etc.,
Elizabeth Shannon, Ballyengland, Askeaton, Co Limerick.