Ms Deirdre Fay:

We are cognisant that as a result of the UK's decision to leave the EU the importation of seed potatoes from Great Britain into the EU is no longer possible. Support was required for the seed potato sector, as approximately 4,000 tonnes of seed potatoes previously supplied from Great Britain could no longer be imported into Ireland from 1 January 2021. This, obviously, posed a significant challenge for the potato sector as a whole. The aim of the scheme of investment aid for the seed potato sector was to provide grant aid support to assist it in dealing with the challenges associated with that development.

In 2022, the scheme of investment aid for the seed potato sector was launched and had a budget of €3 million over 2022 and 2023. There was €1.5 million available last year and €1.5 million available this year. In our initial submission to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for this scheme, chipping potato growers were included. That Department, however, did not sanction their inclusion in the scheme for 2022. However, we later went back to that Department and the sanction for chipping potatoes was included in the scheme for 2023. Effectively, then, the budget was increased for 2023 by €1.6 billion. The scheme for 2023, therefore, included chipping as well as seed potatoes. The overall budget for that was €3.1 million.

The scheme itself was a capital investment scheme and it provided grant aid for capital investment, equipment and facilities for the production, storage and marketing of seed and chipping potatoes. Again, the feedback we got from the potato sector regarding these two schemes was very positive.