Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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399. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 960 of 7 November 2017, his plans to develop satellite food innovation hubs throughout the State to work in conjunction with the National Food Innovation Hub in Fermoy; his plans to consider Naas, County Kildare, as a suitable location for such a satellite food innovation hub; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53017/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is providing €8.8m in exchequer funding towards the development of a National Food Innovation Hub at Moorepark with the aim of creating a supportive environment for research and innovation involving food companies and research organisations with a focus on food, health and nutrition.

This is seen as a strategically important project for Ireland’s agri-food sector in general, especially in the context of Brexit, which poses enormous challenges for the sector by virtue of its reliance on the UK market, and the associated challenges in developing new markets and value added products.

The National Food Innovation Hub directly addresses one of the challenges identified in the Food Wise 2025 report, namely the current low levels of R&D expenditure by the Irish agri-food sector. The project is part of a broader strategic framework funded by my Department to encourage research and development in the agri-food sector. The inclusion of a large number of topics relating to food in my Department’s recent Call for Research Proposals very much underscores my commitment to this effort. Publicly funded research is now even more necessary to help drive innovation, competitiveness and long-term sustainability in the food sector as we prepare for Brexit.

It’s expected that the National Food Innovation Hub will be instrumental in increasing the rate of research and innovation in the dairy sector and wider food industry. Whilst my Department has no plans to fund similar projects at other locations, a major package of measures was announced in Budget 2018 to help the food industry navigate the current challenges arising from Brexit and to advance the growth objectives of Food Wise 2025. For example, in the areas of innovation, research and new product development an investment of €5m is planned to fund research and innovation in the important Prepared Consumer Foods Sector.