Professor Mark Ferguson:

We are funding a research centre called the Beacon research centre. It is about the bio-economy. It officially launches tomorrow. It is in the Lisheen disused mine. The researchers are concentrating on how to get high value products out of waste, specifically from the dairy industry. When dairy products are processed, by-products are often put into landfill. They can be made into lactic acid, which is a starting block for building a bio-plastic. We can make plastics from milk, to be simplistic about it. It is scaling. Glanbia, which members will know is a large co-op, secured a very large grant of about €30 million from the European Union. We and others are co-funders of that. Glanbia is building a pilot plant to process the waste that has been piloted in this research into building blocks for the circular economy.

We want to do a lot more in fishing, where there is a lot of waste, and in other areas. The bio-economy is an active area. There is a policy on it from the Department of the Taoiseach. We have implemented this with very good funding though a research centre and there are companies pulling through on that. We are working closely with our colleagues in Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and other bodies. Of course there is more that can be done.