€20m ‘one-stop shop’ for seafood sector begins

THE foundation stone for a new €20 million office complex for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Bord Iascaigh Mhara was laid in Clonakilty, Co Cork, yesterday by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan.

Work on constructing the 6,500sqm complex is under way on a three-acre site and is due for completion in March 2009. The complex will accommodate 180 civil and public servants on completion and will result in a €9m payroll injection into the local economy.

In addition to accommodating the fisheries and aquaculture divisions of the new department and BIM, the complex will also accommodate a new seafood development centre.