06-08-2025
Teagasc Staff Pay Costs Rose by 9 to E109m in 2024 Report
Newly published accounts show that pay costs at Teagasc increased by 9% last year to €109 million.
The Teagasc 2024 Annual Report and Financial Statements shows that the average number of staff employed by the authority during the year was 1,489, up 50 (3%) on 2023.
The annual salary and benefits for Teagasc director, Prof. Frank O'Mara, stood at €192,000 last year.
The report outlined that 124 members of staff in Teagasc earned over €100,000 last year, which included salaries, overtime, allowances, and other benefits.
The total fees paid to the Teagasc Authority and committee stood at €90,346 last year, along with €30,982 in expenses.
In 2024, 140 staff received overtime payments (2023: 148), with the highest aggregate amount paid to an individual €29,158 (2023: €28,802).
The report outlined that total Teagasc income in 2024 was €242 million, which was €10 million (4%) greater than the previous year.
Meanwhile, total expenditure was €246 million, €9 million (4%) greater than in 2023.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) allocated €170.45 million in grant aid to Teagasc in 2024, an increase of €8.254 million on the previous year.
The accounts show non-pay expenditure reduced by 5.5% to €74 million, with general operating expenses of €52 million, down 5% on 2023.
Capital expenditure increased by 53% in 2024 to €14.4 million, while superannuation (pension programme) costs reduced by 2% to €46 million.
The average number of monthly retirement benefits paid during the year was 1,759 (2023: 1,768).
Livestock trading income was just over €5 million in 2024, up from €3.9 million in 2023.
€755,000 was spent on buying livestock in 2024, compared to €353,000 in the previous year.
The report noted that total procurement-related expenditure was €72.9 million in 2024.
Teagasc found that of 301 purchase orders worth over €25,000, with total value of €26.7 million, the value of non-compliant purchase orders was €191,930 (2023: €186,064).
"Notwithstanding that these procurements were non-compliant, Teagasc is satisfied that good value for money was achieved," the report stated.
Despite progression of female staff and the appointment of women to management positions, Teagasc's gender pay gap was 14% as at June 30, 2024.
A new diversity and inclusion strategy to be launched in 2025 will include "a sharp focus on reducing the pay gap".
The report shows that Teagasc advisory service had contracts with 43,735 farmer clients in 2024.
In total, there were 142,834 one-to-one advisory contacts in 2024, including 21,000 farm visits, over 63,000 phone consultations and 59,000 office consultations.
Teagasc supported farmers with 42,210 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications, and almost 15,773 farmers in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The organisation hosted 288 farm walks, 251 workshops, 387 meetings and seminars, along with 2,954 discussion group meetings. The Teagasc website had over 4.4 million visits in 2024.
There were 3,600 learners across full-time, part-time and distance education courses provided by Teagasc, including a number of new apprenticeship programmes.
Teagasc researchers published some 654 peer-reviewed articles during 2024.
Last year, Teagasc was awarded external research funding valued at €53 million, up from €37 million in 2023, which will be drawn down over the next three to six years.
Almost 12.5% of this was for 19 projects funded by the European Commission, which had a total value of €283 million with the contribution to Teagasc being €6.6 million.
