Introducing the New Green Cert Course

Our Green Cert Ireland course launches on 30th September. If you've grown up around farming, chances are you've heard someone mention "doing the Green Cert" the way you'd hear someone mention doing their driving test. Everyone knows it needs to be done, but not everyone knows exactly what it involves. So before enrolment closes, let's clear it up, question by question.

Qualification is a key eligibility requirement for, or unlocks additional benefits under, a run of schemes and tax reliefs — including the Young Farmers Scheme, the National Reserve Young Farmer Category, TAMS, the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme, Farm Partnerships and Collaborative Farming Grants, Stamp Duty Exemption on land transfers, Capital Acquisitions Tax relief, and Young Trained Farmer Stock Relief. In plain terms: for a lot of farmers, the Green Cert is the difference between qualifying for real money and missing out on it.

Is the Forus Green Cert the Same as the Teagasc One?

Yes. You receive the exact same two QQI awards, issued by the same national awarding body, QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland). The full award specifications, learning outcomes, and assessment details are published on the QQI website, so you can check this for yourself rather than taking our word for it.

What's different is how it's delivered. We run it blended, over nine months, built around the reality of working adults rather than a full-time student timetable, with our next intake beginning 30th September.

Is the Course Accredited? Who Validates It?

Yes. The programme is QQI-certified and has been independently validated through QQI's rigorous panel process. As part of this process, our farm hubs, learning resources and assessment system were reviewed in detail before approval was granted. Forus Training, the provider behind Green Cert Ireland, is a QQI-registered provider with 25+ years' training experience.

Who Is the Course Actually For?

Three types of learners tend to land on our course. Farm successors who need to be qualified before the deed of transfer is executed. Working farmers who are ready to formalise what they already know how to do. And farm employees looking to step up toward management.

Most of our learners have a full-time job, a farm, or both, often both at once. The course is designed with that reality in mind from the outset, and the 30th September start date is timed to fit around the end of the busier autumn workload.

Is It All Online?

Why Choose Forus Over the Traditional Routes?

Two words: speed and fit.

• Nine months instead of a multi-year timetable.
• Evening classes instead of daytime classroom blocks.
• On-farm days based around the Midlands, expanding to locations across the country over the coming months, instead of one distant campus.
• Heavy assessment support built in, with learner material we'd put up against anyone's: practice papers, sample exams, and assessment criteria provided in advance.

Who's Behind "Green Cert Ireland"?

Green Cert Ireland is a programme brand of Forus Training, a QQI-registered national training provider based in Mullingar. Forus has over 25 years' delivery experience with more than 1,850 Google reviews at a 4.9★ average.

Places Are Filling for the 30th September Intake

If you're weighing up whether now is the time to get qualified, the honest answer is usually yes. The schemes and reliefs tied to Young Trained Farmer status don't wait, and neither does a deed of transfer. Apply now at greencertireland.ie to find out how the nine-month blended course fits around your farm and your job.