July 30, 2009
Ireland cage egg grant scheme will take longer time
Irish egg producers are unlikely any of their EUR16 million (US$22.5 million) grant scheme for replacing conventional cages until late 2010.
The grant scheme is meant to help egg producers meet new welfare standards for producing eggs from the caged system, which will come into force in 2012.
But Owen Brooks, secretary of the Irish Association, said there are still much work to be done and details to be filled in.
Firstly, the scheme needs to be approved by the EU, which is not expected to be a problem, Brooks said.
Producers also have to submit funding applications and have their projects approved by both the Department of Agriculture and the planning authorities, all of which will take time even before the actual construction work begins, he said.
The funding will not be applied retrospectively, but how it will be allocated has still to be decided, said Brooks.
More than 60 percent of Irish producers are still using conventional cages, and the Irish Egg Association estimates that the conversion will cost the industry EUR40 million (US$56.2 million).
