Vol. 526 No. 3
203 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if grant aid and other supports are available from his Department or any agency under the aegis of his Department toward the development or establishment of food preparation and processing businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26545/00]
The National Development Plan, 2000-2006, provides total indicative funding of £282 million for the food industry. The initiatives contained in the plan are market oriented and provide a cohesive and comprehensive response to the needs of the industry. The funding is allocated as follows: £120 million for capital investment; £83 million for research, technology and innovation; £48 million for marketing and promotion and £31 million to address the human resources needs of the food industry.
Under the arrangements which have been drawn up for the implementation of the initiatives, support towards development or establishment of food preparation and processing businesses will be provided by the State industrial development agencies – Enterprise Ireland and Shannon Development. The agencies will take a holistic approach to the needs of food companies based on the business development plan of each company. Responsibility for the promotion and market development initiative has been assigned to Bord Bia which will implement the initiative through a wide variety of programmes.
