Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 Dec 2003

Vol. 577 No. 3

Written Answers. - Food Industry.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

184 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the amount of the ?282 million package of assistance measures for the food industry announced by him on 31 May 2003 which has been spent on the dairy sector, the beef sector, the pigmeat sector, the poultry sector and the horticultural sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31210/03]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh):

Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 an indicative allocation of €358 million or £282 million has been provided for a full range of support measures to enhance the competitiveness and improve the innovative capability of the food industry. This funding represents a comprehensive response to the development needs of the industry as identified by the food industry development group and the agri food 2010 committee. The range of measures cover capital investment, research and development, marketing and promotion, and human resource development. The support measures are administered by my Department, Bord Bia and the development agencies

Up to the end of June 2003, some €129 million of the total indicative allocation had been awarded, with expenditure in the same period at over €73 million. Details of awards and expenditure across the various measures are as follows:

Food Measures of NDP

Measure	Awards to30 June 2003	Expenditure to30 June 2003
	€m	€m
Capital Investment	42.73	18.97
Research & Development	52.55	25.30
Marketing & Promotion	22.83	22.03
Human Resources	10.68	6.83
Total	128.79	73.13

Under the plan the development agencies provide a full range of services and expertise to client companies based on an agreed development plan for each company. Bord Bia supports the marketing and promotion of food and drinks products through individual company support and support for the development of the industry as a whole. As many of the activities under the measures are generic in nature for example, marketing and promotion activities cover all sectors and research and development outcomes can be applied in many product categories, such as food safety research, it is not possible to allocate the expenditure incurred on the above activities to the product categories requested by the Deputy.

In respect of the capital investment measure administered by my Department and the development agencies, a total of €42.73 million has been awarded up to the end of June 2003. Of this amount, €14.2 million has been awarded by my Department in respect of 49 projects in the following sectors: grain sector – 20 projects: €8.2 million awarded; horticulture – 14 projects: €2.3 million awarded; potato sector – six projects: €1.8 million awarded; egg packing – three projects: €1.3 million awarded; livestock sector – six projects: €600,000 awarded.

In the same period the development agencies awarded €7.9 million to projects in the dairy sector, €3.1 million to projects in the meat sector and €1million to projects in the poultry sector. The balance of €16.5 million was awarded to a range of projects in the prepared consumer foods, food ingredients and beverage sectors.

Question No. 185 answered with Question No. 171.