Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 55 together.

A key instrument of my Department’s funding of research is the thematic research call, to which the Deputy referred, which is typically run every second year. I launched the 2023 call in March last year, with the aim of funding pioneering research in areas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and water quality, sustainable farming, animal health and welfare, social sustainability, the bioeconomy, agri-digitalisation, and safe, healthy and sustainable food. In December, I was pleased to announce the first tranche of successful projects. This saw 20 research grants worth just over €24 million to support research across 16 institutes. Precision fermentation did not form part of any of the these awards.

I expect to announce a further tranche of successful projects from this call in the coming weeks. One of those will examine the potential for alternative plant-based protein using fermentation technology, not precision fermentation, while another will seek to create an all-island Irish network of research organisations to ensure diverse facilities and expertise can be leveraged for research and innovation in areas such as precision fermentation, production of bio-based proteins and chemicals, and development of sustainable bio-based processes.

Separately, the U-protein project, funded by my Department from the 2019 thematic research call, is examining the role of crop and marine resources as alternative sources of protein, and there is a small component looking at using precision fermentation in the utilisation of waste streams for food and non-food uses such as bioplastics.

Precision fermentation builds on traditional fermentation techniques that have been used in food production for many years. Besides its use in the area of plant proteins, precision fermentation also offers possibilities as part of a circular food system. It has the potential to be used for making better use of food processing side streams by extracting valuable components for other food and non-food uses such as bioplastics.

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