Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

As I outlined in my speech at the opening of the Teagasc biotechnology centre, my policy priority for the agrifood sector is to support the development of sustainable, competitive and multi-functional agricultural production and a food processing sector which is export oriented, innovative and consumer focused. To ensure this, agriculture and food research must provide a strong scientific foundation and capability to the farming and food sector. This requires a base of scientific excellence, knowledge and expertise all along the food chain. My Department is the primary funder for agrifood research encompassing primary production, food safety and new and innovative product and process development in the food industry. I am committed to building on the progress made to date in these areas and to strengthen agrifood research activity to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Opportunities exist for the food industry in the areas of consumer foods, functional foods and beverages, food ingredients and speciality foods. Health concerns are now a major influence on consumers, and functional foods, that is, food for health and pharma-foods, are forecast to become key drivers of growth within the sector. The well-being and vibrancy of our agrifood industry is heavily dependent on being continually and rapidly responsive to emerging consumer demand. Without investment in research and development, Ireland's food industry will be outstripped and outpaced by others who already possess the necessary research capability to meet these demands.

The substantial state investment in internal company research and technology transfer has driven and supported the research and development agenda within food companies. These supports, together with tax incentives to encourage research and development, demonstrate the Government's ongoing commitment to the innovation agenda. Irish food companies, for their part, have encompassed the innovation challenge and are increasingly focused on accelerating their research and development activities to meet the growth opportunities. I welcome the fact that a number of leading food companies are engaging with Enterprise Ireland in advancing significant innovation and research and development projects which are market led.

The investment made in public good food research since 1994 has created a critical mass of expertise and capacity which has equipped Irish researchers with internationally respected capability. This investment is continuing under the NDP food institutional research measure which to date has provided funding of over €50 million for food research by public research institutes to support the food industry and underpin food safety.

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Such research programmes are essential to promote innovation, new product development and competitiveness in the agrifood industry and underpin the maintenance of the highest standards in food quality, safety and nutrition. A well resourced research infrastructure and good national competitive programmes also provide Irish researchers with the capacity to compete for funding in EU framework and other international programmes.

Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, has responsibility for the provision of research training and advisory services for the agrifood sector. The Teagasc statement of strategy sets out a new vision for its research service, of which a major part is the expansion of research on food and health, as well as ensuring competitiveness of the agricultural sector through cost reduction technologies and sustainable production systems. Part of this expansion is the new alimentary pharmabiotic centre at Moorepark, which is a development between Teagasc, Moorepark, UCC and industry to conduct research at the interface of food, pharmacology and health. Funding by my Department has contributed significantly to this centre. The centre possesses international expertise in biotechnology and probiotic technology and addresses one of the key recommendations of the agrivision 2015 foresight exercise in developing a strategic alliance between the Irish food and bio-pharmacy industry. Furthermore, the Moorepark biotechnology centre, which represents an investment of approximately €6 million since 2000, offers enormous scope and potential to companies which wish to engage in the challenge of research and development and the substantial rewards it offers.

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