I am fully committed to and supportive of the horticulture sector meeting the objectives of a sustainable food system in all it’s facets and am aware of the use of supplementary CO2 in protected crops to optimise yield and performance, a practice in place for quite sometime. I along with my colleague Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector and my officials have ongoing engagement with the sector.
The Department provides significant supports to development of the horticulture industry and plant production in Ireland through the scheme of Investment aid for the development of the commercial horticulture sector and the EU Producer Organisation Scheme. This included a commitment of €9 million in funding through the recent budget.