The Irish Ministry for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced that Irish seafood processors have invested a total of €15.5m, backed up by grants of €3.2m under the EU co-funded Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme.
This investment made by 21 companies is projected to create over 140 jobs in the industry and increased sales of seafood products of nearly €44m by 2015 – having a huge positive effect on the Irish seafood processing industry.
Simon Coveney, T.D. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said: "This is a very sizeable investment by any standards and particularly so when combined with investment under this Scheme over the past two years. It demonstrates the confidence in the seafood sector as a high growth area of our economy and of our food industry. The SMEs undertaking this very welcome new investment represent the future of the seafood industry.”
Among the companies involved in the investment include Premier Fish Ltd of Co. Donegal which received a grant of €887,193 for an investment of around €6,134,000, Wexford based Sofrimar Ltd which received a €357,502 grant for an investment of €1,430,000 and Castletown Bere Fishermens Co-op Ltd which received €350,000 for €1,400,000 of investment.
The Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme is implemented as part of the Irish Seafood Development Programme 2007-2013. It's implemented by BIM and Údarás na Gaeltachta, with Enterprise Ireland assisting in commercial evaluation of proposals.
