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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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File Pic: The initial announcement was made by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue.
A Kildare-based Senator has welcomed the allocation of a new €3.1 million scheme for seed potato and chipping potato sector
Fianna Fáil Senator Fiona O' Loughlin welcomed the announcement, which was made by her colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
Commenting on the news, the Senator said: "The announcement of €3.1 million for the Potato and chipping Potato sector is much-needed for this industry, and is the direct response to the issues that they are facing following the UK leaving the European Union.
"This reiterates our commitment to protect the industry and to fostering growth and development in the future.
She continued: "The horticulture sector is crucial to the agriculture sector with it being worth a total of €521 Million.”
Senator Fiona O' Loughlin, Fianna Fáil
"The capital grant aid at a rate of up to 40 per cent will be provided to all approved investments, with qualified young farmers receiving up to 60 per cent grant aid.
"The funding provided by this Scheme will be of great benefit to those growers in the seed and chipping potato sectors and will assist them in developing their capacity ensuring a consistent supply of Irish potatoes and displacements of imports," she concluded.
Last week, Senator O' Loughlin made headlines when she appealed to the Irish Government to support the European Commission's court case against Hungary’s controversial anti-LGBTQ+ Law, which she referred to as 'a carbon copy of Putin's 2013 law.'
FURTHER INFORMATION
The new scheme is funded utilising funding under Ireland’s allocation from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund (BAR).
In relation to seed potatoes, approximately 4,000 of seed potato previously supplied by Great Britain, as of January 1st 2021, can no longer be imported into Ireland.
In addition, Ireland imports approximately 64,000 tonnes of potatoes from the UK.
Most of these fresh potato imports are used by chip shop owners.
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