Donie Cassidy (Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 188: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her views on the grant assistance available in the bio-energy and agri-environment areas under the research stimulus fund. [6107/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the 2005 research stimulus fund programme, 12 research projects were recently awarded grant assistance totalling €4.5 million. The research projects cover a broad range of areas, including agri-environment, non-food crops and agri-food economics and will involve inter-institutional collaboration. Three of the projects selected for funding relate to research projects involving biofuels and energy crops and received total grant assistance of some €900,000.

This is an area of particular interest due to the environmental advantages of biofuels, increasing cost of fossil fuels and the opportunity farmers now have to explore alternative farm enterprises. Six of the projects selected for funding relate to the agri-environment area and were awarded total grant assistance of more than €3 million. The research involved will be of a public good nature and the results will be made freely available.

The projects now being funded should produce benefits not only for producers but for the wider rural community. They will also contribute to improved collaboration between various research institutions and to the establishment of critical mass in certain research areas.