Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he was delighted to see his name go on a plaque for the first time ever as a senior minister when he officially launched phase two of the Vista Milk research centre last week.

The minister brought with him Department of Agriculture funding of €8.6m, or over a third of the total Government funding of €26.2m.

It is the Department’s largest ever single investment in a research centre, junior minister Noel Grealish, told the gathered crowd.

Quick to spot an opportunity for future funding, Teagasc’s head of animal and grassland research Laurence Shalloo quipped: “We’ll put a plaque on the wall every time you come, minster!”