merrion street

Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, announced the award of €1,532,230 in grants to 20 seafood enterprises in 10 different counties under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programme for the seafood sector.

The grant awards will support total investment of €4,018,852 in the fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors. The grants are co-funded by Government of Ireland and the European Union and subject to terms and conditions.

Minister Creed said,

I am delighted to announce a further tranche of grant awards to 20 seafood enterprises that will support a €4 million of investment in fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing. It is very encouraging to see a continued increase in investment in aquaculture and these investments will positively contribute to our sustainable growth targets for the sector. It is also reassuring to see our fisheries cooperatives continuing to invest to position themselves to handle unwanted catches under the new CFP discards ban.

The Minister continued:

investing in our seafood sector increases jobs in rural and coastal communities - a priority for this Government. Furthermore the development of the innovation and value added capacity of the sector is key to mitigating the potential impacts of Brexit.