Portlaoise students fly to Belgium for Irish Angus competition tour

Three Portlaoise students got a chance to fly to Belgium for a farming business tour, as finalists in the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition.

Laois trio Jill Sheehy, Carol Sheehy and Sinead Slevin from Scoil Chríost Rí Transition Year, with their teacher Ms O’ Gorman, joined 25 other pupils and teachers from four other schools around the country in the farm to fork trip in February.

The four-day trip was part of a skills development experience for the finalists in the 2023 competition which is organised by the Certified Irish Angus Producer Group, ABP and Kepak. 

The students described the trip as “a trip of a lifetime”.  

The tour started in Dublin with a visit to Tesco Ireland HQ and then the students travelled across to Bord Bia HQ to learn about the sale and promotion of Irish Angus beef.

The teenagers then got back to the farming side of the trip in Teagasc Grange before moving to onto what is one of the most highly regarded centres for breeding Angus cattle and thoroughbred horses, Gigginstown House Stud and Farm owned by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary.

The pupils stayed at the Irish College in Leuven. Their trip was action packed with the students’ making presentations in the European Parliament to Irish political and farming representatives about the projects they are working on as finalists.  

On the final day the pupils headed to Bruges where they visited Ter Groene Poorte school which is a training institute for nutrition-oriented studies. The school offers training for butchers, bakeries, large kitchens, and restaurants studies for pupils that would be a similar age to the Irish students. 

Ann Byrne is a Deputy Principal at Scoil Chríost Rí.

"We are tremendously proud of our students and their teacher Ms O'Gorman who all have shown their passion in the subject of agricultural science. Not only had they the opportunity to bring the calves they are now rearing back to the school for a visit, but now also a whole world has been opened up to them. Thank you to the organisers for investing and believing in the future generation and their role in our domestic food industry," she said.  

Charles Smith is General Manager, Certified Irish Angus Producer Group.

“One of the highlights of the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition for the students is undoubtedly this annual study trip. It provides them with the opportunity to meet some of the leaders in Irish and European Agriculture and we are very grateful to

people like Michael O’Leary, the Irish MEP’s and our supplier partners who make time to interact with these students who are going to be the future of Irish Agriculture. 

"The trip also takes the students full circle, from their own experience rearing the calves as part of the competition to the marketing of a premium product on a global scale. At Tesco Ireland they learned about what it takes for a product to become one of the exclusive Tesco Finest* brands and the importance of provenance and consistency of quality for the retailer,” he said.