John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the benefit for the beef and sheep meat processing industry here arising from his recent investment announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25955/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Beef and Sheepmeat Investment Fund, grant assistance of over €69 million was recently announced in respect of 15 investment projects. The awards, which are part of a strategy to position the industry to face the challenges and grasp the opportunities that lie ahead, will contribute to total investment in the region of €168 million.

The objective of the Fund is to support investment to increase scale and efficiency in primary processing, and added value in further processing for retail, food service and manufacturing outlets. No overall increase in processing capacity within the sector is envisaged. The individual investments supported by the Fund will have a range of impacts on sales and employment. The expected overall net impact of this multi-annual programme of investment is to achieve over €400 million in additional sales and exports and a net expansion of 800 in employment following completion of the package of investments in 2012.