Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

491. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the actions being taken with respect to the bioeconomy; and the meetings of the interdepartmental group jointly chaired by his Department to implement actions in this area, by date and location, in tabular form. [12039/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Status of the Actions

The bioeconomy provides economic opportunities for farmers, foresters and the agri-food industry to use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy in a sustainable and circular manner. My department contributed to the development of the National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy published on 12 March 2018 by the Department of the Taoiseach.

The high-level Implementation Group, jointly chaired by my Department and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and consisting of nine departments and eight agencies, established to progress the actions in the Statement, held four meetings in 2018. The minutes of the meetings are publically available on my Department's website. The Implementation Group is currently finalising a report to government on addressing the policy statement actions and will bring forward recommendations for further developing the bioeconomy in Ireland.

Policy Statement actions addressed to date include providing input into a range of national policy and funding instrument developments to exploit synergies and provide funding opportunities for national bioeconomy development. Additionally, the Implementation Group coordinated an Information Day in UCC in May 2018 with partners Marine Institute, InterTrade Ireland and Department of Environment, Agriculture, Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland to highlight funding opportunities available under the EU Biobased Industries Joint Undertaking initiative.

The Implementation Group also coordinated the inaugural Bioeconomy Ireland Day information & networking event in Lisheen, Co. Tipperary in October 2018. Additionally, dairy, horticulture, crop, forestry, marine and organic residues are being examined in Irish and EU funded projects for production of biobased chemicals, food, and feed and energy products.