Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 45: 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. [12209/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The areas of bio-energy and agri-environment are of particular interest due to the environmental advantages of biofuels, the increasing cost of fossil fuels, the opportunity farmers now have to explore alternative farm enterprises and the current requirements on farmers to farm in an environmentally friendly way. In view of this the call for proposals under the research stimulus fund programme in 2005 and the new round of research proposals for funding under the 2006 research stimulus fund programme, which I recently announced, includes both of these areas.

Under the 2005 research stimulus fund programme 12 research projects were recently awarded grant assistance totalling €4.5 million. The research projects selected for funding cover a broad range of areas including agri-environment, non-food crops and agrifood 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 €0.9 million. Five of the projects selected relate to the agri-environment area and were awarded total grant assistance of €2.6 million.

The new round of research proposals for funding under the 2006 research stimulus fund programme, which was advertised recently in the national press, includes also the theme areas of animal and plant biosciences in addition to the non-food uses of agricultural land and agri-environment. The research will support sustainable agricultural production in its broad sense, particularly development and use of knowledge in the biosciences in order to exploit new and emerging opportunities that support competitiveness and the sustainable use of natural resources.

The projects now being funded and the grant assistance to be made available under the 2006 programme should produce benefits not only for producers but also for the wider community. They will also contribute to improved collaboration between various research institutions and to the establishment of critical mass in certain research areas.