#Seafood - Marine Marine Simon Coveney has announced an award of €2.4 million in grant aid to 20 seafood processing companies under the 2014 Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme.
The scheme is projected to deliver 157 jobs and €45 million in additional sales by 2016.
Taken in conjunction with private sector investment, the total investment will be almost €8 million in 2014.
The grants are co-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the European Fisheries Fund.
“Our seafood industry has the potential to achieve sales of €1 billion per annum by 2017 and to deliver 1,200 additional jobs in that period," said Minister Coveney, who added that the seafood processing sector "is a key growth area in our seafood industry and can make a major contribution to those overall seafood industry growth targets."
The minister also said the investment "will help to build scale, drive innovation and develop value added products to meet the considerable demand on our key international markets. It will enable these companies to invest in the required technology and resources to make this happen.
"I look forward to seeing the positive effect this investment has on the industry, both in terms of employment and sales, over the next three years.”
The 20 companies receiving grant aid are from eight coastal counties across the country: four in Co Cork (Castletownbere Fishermen's Co-Op; Good Fish Processing; Keohane Seafood; Ballycotton Seafoods), three in Co Galway (Cill Chiarain Eisc Teoranta; Iasc Mara Teoranta; Galway Bay Seafoods), two in Co Mayo (Connemara Seafoods Frozen; WM Carr & Sons), four in Co Donegal (Proseail An Clochan Liath Teo; Charles Vial; Earagail Eisc Teo; Arctic Fish), two in Dublin (Rockabill Shellfish; Dunns Seafare), three in Co Wexford (Atlantis Seafoods; Sofrimar; Kilmore Seafoods) and one each in Co Louth (Seafood Processors trading as Morgans) and Co Waterford (Iasc Sliogagh Dunlarbhain Dungarvan).
The Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme is implemented as part of the State's Seafood Development Programme. Grant aid is at a maximum rate of 20% for primary processing and 30% for secondary processing projects and is co-funded on a 50/50 basis by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the European Fisheries Fund.
The scheme is implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and Údarás na Gaeltachta, with Enterprise Ireland assisting in commercial evaluation of proposals.
Successful projects are selected for grant aid by a selection board comprising the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, BIM, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Enterprise Ireland, the Marine Institute, the South and East Regional Assembly and the BMW Regional Assembly.
Eligible companies are seafood processing SMEs with premises approved by the SFPA. Eligible costs may include the purchase of new machinery and equipment and the construction, extension or modernisation of seafood processing enterprises.