EU to fund half of dairy council’s €800k push to raise sales abroad

The EU is providing over €400,000 for Ireland to promote dairy products as part of a €800,000 push by the National Dairy Council to increase sales.

The countries targeted in the promotion, which will continue for the next two years, are Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Britain, Austria, and Ireland. The promotion will be carried out in conjunction with dairy bodies in most of these countries and was one of 14 approved by the European Commission yesterday. The budget is €53.86m, of which the EU contributes half.

As well as milk and milk products, the marketing funds awarded to other countries covered fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, food that has a protected designation of origin status and the traditional specialities guaranteed mark together with olive oil, organic products, ornamental horticulture, and meat.