Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
71. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide details of any analysis carried out by his Department on foot of the recommendations in the recently published Wool Feasibility Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38171/22]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, one of the commitments of the current Programme for Government is to conduct a review of the potential demand for wool-based products such as for insulation and fertilisers in domestic and international markets. Despite its versatility in many industries, wool prices remain unacceptably low so in order to address this issue and seek a more favourable outlook for the future of the wool industry I initiated a comprehensive review of the wool industry to explore market opportunities in order to to maximise the potential of this valuable natural resource.
In March 2021, I launched a public consultation process to identify terms of reference for the review and to invite stakeholders to make recommendations on potential domestic and international market opportunities for wool products. Stakeholders submitted a total of 45 submissions.
Following a competitive public procurement procedure, ‘The Agile Executive’ a consortium made up of experts from Munster Technological University and Donegal Yarns, were appointed in November 2021 to carry out the wool review and examine the submissions received under the public consultation process.
The Agile Executive produced a report on the findings of the review and this report was published on the 1st July 2022. This report which was compiled independently by The Agile Executive, contains a number of findings and recommendations. One of the main recommendations is the establishment of an industry-led Wool Council which would develop and promote Irish wool domestically and internationally and bring together multiple stakeholders to foster collaboration, innovation and scaling activities in the wool sector.
I am very supportive of this recommendation and I have committed to provide funding to the wool industry of €30,000 towards the initial set-up costs of setting up the Wool Council. This will be in an excellent forum in which stakeholders can further examine and explore the potential uses for wool identified in the Wool feasibility study report.
