Ministers Martin Heydon and Darragh O’Brien have announced €10 million to support two bio-economy projects in the Midlands.
Funded through the EU’s Just Transition Fund, the projects are designed to encourage the region’s shift toward a low-carbon economy as it moves away from peat harvesting.
The funding is split between: ‘BIOCHAR,’ led by the University of Limerick, and ‘TRANSFORM,’ led by University College Dublin.
The BIOCHAR project will scale-up the production of a charcoal-like material from biomass such as wood chips and crop residue for use as an alternative to burning peat.
Meanwhile, the TRANSFORM project will establish a commercial-scale facility in Tullamore in County Offaly to turn agri-food by-products into “functional ingredients” for animal feed.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD said the projects will “demonstrate the potential uses of biochar in agriculture, bioenergy and sustainability, as well as transforming agri-food byproducts and waste into functional ingredients”.
The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA), is the managing authority for the EU fund.
Acting Director, Clare Bannon, said:
“This significant investment into the bioeconomy sector in the Midlands demonstrates the strong commitment of Ireland and the European Union to advancing a climate-neutral and circular economy at scale”.
The EU’s Just Transition Fund was set up to support regions move away from fossil fuels on the way to Europe going net-zero by 2050.
Ireland has been allocated €84.5 million from the fund with particular emphasis on projects that help end peat-burning.
The government said that the latest projects are “designed to deliver practical, investable bio-economy solutions in Ireland’s Just Transition Fund Territory in the Midlands, which supports communities and businesses to build new, low-carbon biobased value chains as the region moves away from peat.”