Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD announced this evening the award of €2.4m in grant aid to 25 seafood processing companies under the 2013 Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme.  Taken in conjunction with private sector investment the total investment will be more than €8m in 2013.

Speaking at the announcement of the investments, Minister Coveney said: “Processing is a high growth area in Ireland’s seafood sector and has successfully targeted new business opportunities in markets such as China, Russia and Africa. Overall exports were valued at €517m in 2012, an increase of 20 per cent on 2012. This €8m investment by the industry represents a very significant funding commitment by processing companies and Government to the seafood sector and underpins the confidence of new joint venture partnerships that were significant contributors to the increase in the value of Irish seafood exports in 2012.”

The 25 companies receiving grant aid are from seven coastal counties across the country, namely Kerry, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Wexford, Mayo and Donegal.

“The geographic spread of the companies receiving the grant aid is testament to the success of the Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme and the innovative and creative developments happening in seafood generally,” he added.

The Minister made the announcement of the new investments at the launch of Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s new strategy for the seafood sector 2013-2017. The strategy , entitled ‘Capturing Ireland’s share of the global seafood opportunity’ sets targets for the creation of 1,200 additional jobs, aligned to a total sales value of €1bn of which exports will form €650m by the end of 2017.

“The Irish Seafood sector is currently in expansionary mode, it is a growth industry. Through the type of investment supports and strategic plan announced today, the Government can assist Irish seafood processing companies to scale up, diversify further and innovate as they develop new markets, enhancing profitability and job creation prospects into the future,” the minister concluded.

Today’s announcement follows previous investment supported by the Scheme of €10m in 2012 and €7m in 2011.  The Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme is implemented as part of the Irish Seafood Development Programme 2007-2013.  Grant aid is at a maximum rate of 20 per cent for primary processing and 30 per cent 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.

Below are the 2013 Grants approved under the Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme