Major €5m investment in new Mount Lucas bioeconomy facility
A €5m investment in a bioeconomy demonstration initiative in Mount Lucas has been announced.
It is one of two projects to be funded under Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative Calls, as part of the EU Just Transition Fund
Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications Ossian Smyth, and Ministers of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon and Senator Pippa Hackett today announced €10 million funding for the two new bioeconomy demonstration projects.
The projects will result in development of innovation hubs to create new products as an alternative to fossil based production, demonstrating the bioeconomy in action in both Mount Lucas and Lisheen in Tipperary.
The Mount Lucas Circular Bioeconomy Aquaculture Initiative (Circular IMTA) is led by the Technological University of Shannon. It will demonstrate the production of new feeds and food ingredients from cultivated-duckweed and macroalgae at scale, using agri-food waste streams produced at a circular peatland integrated aquaculture site at Mount Lucas.
It will use fish waste stream as biobased fertilisers to cultivate the duckweed and macroalgae.
The award arises from the first of two EU Just Transition Fund Calls for Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiatives, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.
Funding of €5 million is also being awarded to ‘The Lisheen Bioeconomy Scaleup Initiative (BioScaleUp)’. Led by Tipperary County Council, it will demonstrate six innovative technologies at the national pilot biorefinery facility at the National Bioeconomy Campus, Lisheen Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Both projects will also include significant training and upskilling opportunities in both facilities across a range of scientific, technical, and engineering, facilitation, business and finance areas related to biorefinery and biomanufacturing.
Commenting on the two newly funded initiatives, Minister McConalogue stated: “The bioeconomy has the potential to improve the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the agri-food sector through offering diversification opportunities, through the development of new products, business models and value chains, and reducing the use of non-sustainable inputs in all economic sectors including in the agri-food sector. I am delighted to announce this €10 million investment in two innovative bioeconomy projects as part of Irelands implementation of the EU Just Transition Fund.”
Minister of State Senator Pippa Hackett stated: "I am hugely excited by the opportunities that the bioeconomy offers rural areas - both the economic benefits and the potential for job creation, as well as the immense potential for the bioeconomy to play an important role in tackling the climate crisis. The science behind these projects is cutting edge, but the motivation is simple.
“We need new, innovative solutions to longstanding problems. Having seen first-hand the aquaculture initiative at Mount Lucas in my home county of Offaly, I believe these demonstrator projects will be key catalysts for the success of the Irish bioeconomy sector."
Stefan De Keersmaecker, European Commission Coordinating Spokesperson for the European Green Deal and Spokesperson for Regional Policy and Reforms,
“The EU Just Transition Fund is a tangible and impactful tool to support Ireland’s Midlands in its path towards a net-zero economy, ensuring that no region in Ireland gets left behind during the green transition.
“We welcome the new bioeconomy projects announced today, which are building on existing local assets in biotechnologies to create and strengthen new value chains in the Midlands’ region. They are fully in line with the JTF’s objective, to support innovative and place-based opportunities that will have a lasting impact on the territory and on its people”.