Mr. Oisín Geoghegan:

I thank Senator Garvey for the questions. The local enterprise offices have always been very active in the food sector. As members know, the sector creates a lot of employment in every town and village in Ireland. It is a sector that is really important to us. There are three key initiatives that we deploy at national and local levels to encourage and enable food entrepreneurs and ultimately ensure they can compete, perhaps against foreign producers. The first initiative is the Digital School of Food, which has proven to be very effective. It is an online learning platform. It has been particularly helpful during the pandemic years. The second initiative is Food Starter, an intensive two-day programme for food entrepreneurs to equip them with the skills necessary to run their own businesses. The third, Food Academy, has been running for a number of years in partnership with Musgrave Group's SuperValu. It has been a huge success. It is for small producers throughout the country. Locally throughout the country, local enterprise offices are involved with food networks and so on. This is an area we are particularly passionate about.

On support services, the Senator mentioned support through capital grants. Many food producers are funded. A significant proportion of the grants for a local enterprise office companies are for food businesses.