Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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149. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on the progress of the European Innovation Partnership Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25100/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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European Innovation Partnership projects (EIPs) were introduced under Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the 2014-2022 Rural Development Programme (RDP). EIPs seek to address agricultural challenges by providing support to Operational Groups (OGs) comprised of a range of actors (farmers, academics, environmental groups, NGOs, etc.), to share knowledge, test innovative solutions and put research results into practice.

This allows for a bottom-up, locally led approach to inform the scaling of agriculture sector policy measures and programmes.

Within the CSP 2023-2027, there is a total budget of €36 million for the EIP programme across two streams. Stream A relates to EIPs aimed at addressing wider competitiveness, modernisation and animal health and welfare challenges in the sector, while Stream B relates to EIPs aimed at addressing areas related to environmental, biodiversity and climate change challenges.

Two flagship EIP projects have already been launched and are in the implementation stage. The Water EIP, which is co-funded by my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, has a budget of €60 million, with €50 million provided by my Department to cover farmer payments and the remainder provided by the Department of Housing to cover Administration costs.

The Breeding Waders EIP is co-funded by my Department and the NPWS, with a budget allocation of €25 million, of which €7.5 million is being provided by my Department for farmer payments, and the remainder provided by NPWS to cover administration costs.

A further twenty projects have been awarded funding under the CSP and are in the process of being implemented, under the themes of Animal Health and Welfare, Gender Balance, Generational Renewal, Digital Technologies on farms and a general call on Environmental Sustainability.

My Department is currently finalising the EIP programme under the CAP Strategic Plan and a final call is due to be announced shortly.