John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 518: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will report on the measures taken to assist the marketing and processing of agricultural products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42738/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My Department sought EU state aid approval in 2000 for a capital investment scheme for to assist the marketing and processing of agricultural products. The scheme ran initially to 2006 and was subsequently extended to the end of 2008 under the EU state aid rules then in operation. Under the scheme to date, over €160m in grant aid has been allocated by my Department for projects to improve marketing and processing facilities at agri-food enterprises. Details are set out in the following table.

Further applications in the beef/sheepmeat sector, livestock marts, low throughput meat establishments and fruit and vegetable sectors are currently going through a competitive assessment and evaluation process in which the strengths of the various proposals are being assessed and ranked in line with the objectives of the Scheme. This evaluation process is nearing completion.