asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give up to date details of employment increases in, and expenditure outlay on the pig expansion programme announced in July 1987; and the benefits which have accrued to the pig industry from this programme to date.
Written Answers. - Pig Expansion Programme.
78.
The objective of the development programme for the pigmeat sector which I announced in July 1987, is to create a modern efficient industry in Ireland which will be on a par with the highest standards available elsewhere. The aim of the programme is to ensure that the Irish pigmeat industry is competitive on home and export markets under Single Market conditions. In the past year two modern, sophisticated plants, with a combined slaughtering capacity of 14,000 pigs per week, have come on stream under the programme. Also other projects have been developed and, to date, total investment expenditure of around £17 million has been incurred. It is anticipated that this figure will exceed £30 million by the end of 1989.
The development programme as a whole has a job creation target of about 1,000 in the processing area by 1992. The investment projects, which have already been approved by my Department, will bring a high proportion of these jobs on stream. About 100 new jobs were created in the industry in 1988. It is expected that job creation will accelerate in the years ahead as more value added processing facilities are completed under the programme