Study looks at reviving beet industry

THE Department of Agriculture will assist with a study to assess the possibility of redeveloping the sugar beet industry, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

Addressing the joint committee on agriculture, department secretary general Tom Moran said that he endorsed a proposal by Labour TD Sean Sherlock that a review of the economic benefits of producing and processing sugar beet as bioethanol should be made.

However, Mr Moran said there was no possibility of resurrecting the sugar processing industry following the March 2006 Greencore decision to forego Ireland’s quota for the industry and seek EU compensation.