Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1144. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if has considered increasing the use of seaweed as fertiliser to tackle the shortage of fertiliser; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14588/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In general, as unprocessed seaweeds have low levels of N, P and K, their role as a nutrient fertiliser is somewhat limited. The spreading of seaweed on land is therefore not the optimum use of such a valuable resource and, in its unprocessed form, is best used in other areas of agriculture.

However, certain scientific studies indicate that extracts of seaweed may have a potential role in enhancing nutrient uptake and use efficiency in crops, thus providing a means of reducing the levels of fertilisers that need to be applied. Seaweed extracts are classified as ‘plant biostimulants’ and are described in EU Regulation 2019/1009 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products as inputs that stimulate a crop’s natural nutrition processes thus improving the crop’s nutrient use efficiency.

There are a number of products already on the market that provide such a function.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1145. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered reusing food waste as animal feed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14589/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Surplus food is already an established and important source of product for inclusion in animal feed. A variety of products including bakery items, confectionery, fruit, vegetables and by-products from the brewing and distilling industries are used in feed production. In 2021, some 370,000 tonnes of surplus food was collected and used as feed materials in Ireland.

A number of initiatives have been put forward by the EU Commission in recent years to facilitate the use of food no longer intended for human consumption for animal feed and to specifically include products from the food manufacturing process (supplied by food producers) and food that has already been placed on the market. This included an amendment to the Waste Framework Directive to specifically exclude substances that are destined for use as feed materials from the scope of the Directive to ensure that such products would no longer be classified as a waste and could be used in feed.