At least 370 jobs are to be created in coastal communities on foot of grants for seafood enterprises announced by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.
The grants, which are co-funded by the Government and the European Union, will trigger new investments worth €21.5 million by 51 seafood companies.
The investments are aimed at the development of new value added seafood products and the opening up of new markets abroad.
There is also a focus on developing knowledge and new processes in aqua culture production, disease management and animal husbandry.
The grants announced today amounted to €4.3 million and are the first programme of grants and financial support worth €240m under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme.
Minister Creed has said that he expects to announce further offers under these schemes in the coming months.
The grant offers are made under five EMFF Schemes.
For the processing sector, €3.4m was awarded to 27 enterprises under the Seafood Capital Investment Scheme towards total investment of €19.4m. These investments are projected to create 316 jobs by 2019 and additional sales of €77 million by 2019.
In addition, €157,000 was awarded to four enterprises under the Seafood Scaling and New Market Development Scheme towards total investment of €335,000 and €164,000 was awarded to eight enterprises under the Seafood Innovation and Business Planning Scheme towards total investment of €328,000.
For the aquaculture sector, €199,000 was awarded to four enterprises under the Knowledge Gateway Scheme towards a total investment of €305,000, while €382,000 was awarded to eight enterprises under the Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme towards total investment of in excess of €1m.
Further details of the schemes concerned are available here.
