Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett):

I thank the Deputy. There is a lot of interest from farmers and crafters in the opportunities with wool. I would encourage anyone who is interested or has an idea to engage with the Irish Grown Wool Council because, essentially, it is its function to gather such information and come up with proposals for what would be necessary to develop an industry using Irish wool. The wool research and innovation hub was also established to support the Irish Grown Wool Council, and its purpose is to conduct research and innovation to deliver products to market and aid with their commercialisation. This group is headed by the Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South West at the Kerry campus of Munster Technological University. There are all sorts of potential areas, as the Deputy has outlined, in product development, whether that is in the horticulture sector with compost, in pelting, or in the construction sector where it can be added to cement or used to decarbonise construction in that way. There are also opportunities in packaging, be it in building products or in cosmetics. In one sense the world is our oyster when it comes to wool. It is about generating and creating those routes to market and making sure there is a demand for these products. Unfortunately, at the moment there is not and that is why we are in the situation we are in. As a sheep farmer myself I know how frustrating that is.

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