The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been allocated €1.3 billion in Budget 2016.

The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney said this week that he had delivered on additional funding for the sector for the second consecutive year and this would enable him to continue with targeted investment in the Rural Development and Seafood Development programmes.

“The Exchequer contribution to the expenditure of my Department will amount to €1,351m in 2016; €1,134m in current expenditure and €217m capital expenditure.

“In this budget I wanted to set out clear priorities in order to maximise the contribution of the agri-food, marine and forestry to the national economy.

“This represents an overall increase of €109m over this [2015] year’s figures and, in line with the commitment I made last year, is the second of a series of budgets which will see the Expenditure of my Department increase to take account of key priorities including the Rural Development Programme and the Seafood Development Programme,” he said.

Here’s where the Department will be spending the money in the agriculture sector: