22 MFómh 2014, 17:00
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will tomorrow meet with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD for an update on spending in his Department so far in 2014.
22 September 2014
The Department’s 2014 budget amounts to over €1.2 billion and the meeting forms part of the growing role being played by Oireachtas Committees in the year-round scrutiny of government estimates.
Committee Chairman Andrew Doyle says: “The report by the Food Harvest 2020 implementation group published today indicates that agri-food exports are up 42 percent since 2009. As Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, the sector was worth some €10 billion in exports last year. Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to question Minister Coveney on how his Department’s spend in 2014 is helping to sustain and grow the sector.
“About 170,000 people are employed in the sector, and while the positive overall trend of recent years is to be warmly welcomed, Committee members may wish to explore why certain sectors such as beef and aquaculture have not enjoyed the same levels of growth. With Budget 2015 to be announced next month, we will also be keen to assess Minister Coveney’s proposed approach to ensure that the appropriate levels of national funding are made available to supplement new EU schemes such as the Rural Development Programme and the European Maritime Fisheries Fund.”
The meeting takes place tomorrow Tuesday 23 September 2014 at 3:45 pm in Committee Room 3, LH 2000. It can be viewed online here.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
ENDS
View Committee Membership.
For further information please contact:
Paul Hand,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +353 1 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926