Livestock marts and the small meat sector in County Galway are set to receive nearly €882,000 in grant-aid funding which it is hoped, will help to kick start economic activity and create additional job opportunities.
The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Brendan Smith and the Minister for Food and Horticulture, Trevor Sargent, announced recently details of grant-aid totalling €16.7 million under the Department’s Marketing and Processing Scheme.
The grant-aid will benefit 66 enterprises across the country and is expected to contribute to an actual investment on projects in the region of €70 million across the horticulture, livestock marts, and small meat sectors.
The enterprises to benefit in Galway include: Headford Co-op Mart (€117,607 ), Ballinasloe Livestock Mart (€64,255 ), Athenry Co-op Livestock Mart (€42,560 ), and Gort Co-operative Livestock Mart (€20,160 ). In the meat sector €637,110 will be going to Heaney Meats Catering Co in Casla, Connemara.
Minister Smith described the level of funding being made available as “critically important and a very significant boost for these sectors which will improve the competitiveness and added-value of agricultural products through improved facilities as well as improving storage, handling, and marketing facilities at ‘near farm’ enterprises”.
“This investment will create significant employment during the construction stage of the new facilities and will also create additional job opportunities in the agri-food sector which is so important in generating revenue from export earnings,” he said.
Minister for Community, Rural, and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív welcomed the approval of the €637,111 under the Capital Investment Scheme to Heaney Meats Catering in Casla. Deputy Ó Cuív added that this funding will “assist the development of the catering sector in Connemara and its environs
