Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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1830. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current holdings of national seed banks including cereals, pulses, potatoes and vegetable seed; the available cold-storage capacity; the way in which genetic diversity is being maintained and the collaboration in place with EU seed vaults; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47207/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is actively involved in the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture. My Department maintains a seedbank at Backweston, Co Kildare consisting of 573 accessions of cereals and crop wild relatives. My Department also maintais the potato seedbank at Tops Potato Centre in Raphoe, Co Donegal consisting of 735 varieties of potatoes and 46 varieties of sweet potatoes.

The Irish Seed Savers Association located in Co Clare maintains a seedbank containing 915 accessions of cereals, linseed and vegetables, while they also maintain the national heritage apple collection. The Teagasc seedbank at Oak Park in Co Carlow contains 667 accessions consisting predominately of grasses and clovers.

These seedbanks conserve Irish plant genetic material in line with international best practice. Currently all seedbanks have sufficient cold storage capacity.

Genetic diversity is maintained through a combination of collection missions, seed multiplication as well as ensuring seed viability during storage by ensuring various criteria are met including moisture content, temperature, oxygen, light and germination capacity. As a backup for Irish Seed collections, DAFM has made 3 separate seed deposits to the Svalbard Global Seed vault in Norway.

My Department operates the Conservation of Plant and Animal Genetic Resources Grant Aid Scheme providing funding for a range of projects. Ireland collaborates on the European Cooperative Program for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) and is a member of ECPGR Network of Genebank Managers aiming to strengthen the management of genebanks. Ireland is a contracting party of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture and is a member of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.