Vol. 547 No. 4
67 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the reason for the delay in putting in place the processing sub-measures for the fishing industry under the National Development Plan, 2000-2006; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that investment decisions have been delayed pending such measures; if there will be no further delay in the matter; and the proposed date for launch. [3658/02]
Under the national development plan, €38 million has been allocated to fund sig nificant re-development of the Irish seafood processing sector. This grant aid will support total investment of €87 million in the industry.
My priority objective has been to ensure that the unprecedented level of investment support under the NDP delivers in full on the objectives of quality, innovation, scale, competitiveness and value added for the Irish seafood processing sector. The detailed investment strategies required to underpin those objectives have now been finalised by my Department, working closely with BIM, Enterprise Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta.
I plan to launch the programme later this month which will enable investment plans already in the pipeline to be framed, applied for and assessed under the published parameters of the scheme.
