On the 22nd of November 2017, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, announced the award of €2.5 million of grant funding for specialist marine equipment and small infrastructure.
Following evaluation and ranking of proposals by the marine institute, a total of 19 grants were awarded to industry and academic organisations. ÉireComposites was awarded a total of €251,203 to fund both a CNC machine and a DMA machine. The computer numerical control (CNC) machine will be used to manufacture moulds for wind and tidal turbine blades and the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) machine will be utilised to characterise novel composite materials for marine applications. The equipment will be invaluable to ÉireComposites in developing its marine-related manufacturing and research.
