asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the amount of the funding provided by his Department for research in the areas of food and fish processing; whether the amount of research is adequate; if he will outline his proposals in the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Food and Fish Processing Research Funding.
1.
Funding for food research is provided by my Department in the annual grant-in-aid to Teagasc. It is a matter for Teagasc, within the limits of the State and non-State resources available to them, to decide on the allocation of funds between their agricultural advice, training and research activities.
Financial assistance towards the establishment of research and development facilities is also available to individual firms in the food industry from the Industrial Development Authority. The Authority allocated approximately £2 million to firms in the food sector by way of R and D grants in 1987. Furthermore, EC and national aid is available for food processing projects many of which contain an R and D element. In the past year £20 million in EC grants have been approved for such projects. Related national grants amounted to a further £12 million.
The integration of the food-related R and D facilities of the Institiute for Industrial Research and Standards and An Foras Talúntais earlier this year in the National Food Centre in Dunsinea has resulted in closer technological co-operation with the industry in the improvement of quality standards and development of new products.
The legislation establishing Teagasc lists food research as a priority in its functions and provides for the setting up of subsidiaries, if necessary, in joint ventures with the private sector. These provisions reflect the importance which the Government attach to the development of the food industry and the commercial orientation which they expect Teagasc to have in undertaking their research.
Would the Minister agree that research has practically come to a standstill because of under-funding and further, that many of the technical and professional staff who are required either have left the service altogether or have been relocated in unsuitable paper-pushing jobs? Would he agree that the morale in Teagasc is now at an all-time low, particularly in the research area?
I do not agree with Deputy Stagg. I am not wishing to evade the question, but there are a number of questions down specifically in relation to Teagasc and there are very comprehensive replies coming up on these. In the food research area, I do not think that morale was ever higher. In the streamlining about which I talked, the IIRS and An Foras people are together carrying out a co-ordinated programme of R and D for the food industry. Also, I mentioned that £20 million of FEOGA funding and a further £12 million of IDA funding have gone into the modernisation of the food industry. That modernisation includes, of course, research and development. There is a new era of development in the food industry about which I am very happy.
Would the Minister tell the House the number of professional staff now engaged in research for Teagasc, in comparison with the number involved in the same area in January 1987, before the implementation of the Minister's cutbacks?
That seems to be a separate question.
It is a very directly related one.
Ceist 2.
The question I am asking is very directly related to the subject in hand.
I have indicated that it is a separate question, Deputy.
Could I possibly rephrase the question?
It is a matter of statistics.
Could I ask the Minister the number of people within the food research area within the Department who have left or been transferred to other areas not connected with food?
Deputy, again this is clearly a separate question.