More than €500k given to MTU wool project

A project led by Munster Technological University (MTU), focusing on helping the wool sector has received more than half a million euro in State funding.

Funding for the project, which is called ‘Springwool’, comes at a time when sheep farmers complain of getting little in return for wool.

It costs farmers about €3.50 to shear a sheep, with a return of roughly 20c per kilogram for the fleece.

MTU said it believed this funding would go towards key research to help create a brighter future for Irish wool.

One of the strands of research involves treating wastewater from scouring wool, while another examines repurposing waste wool to create compost.

There are also uses in cosmetics, medical devices, and healthcare through the extraction of ceramides and keratin from the wool.

Springwool, which is being run in collaboration with Atlantic Technological University, Technological University of the Shannon, and University College Dublin, has received €574,683 from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Announcing the funding as part of €22.3m the Department is providing for 21 new research projects, minister of state Martin Heydon said the investment would help equip the agriculture, food, forest, and bioeconomy sectors with the science and technology needed to become more sustainable and competitive into the future.

Centre manager of MTU’s Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Tim Yeomans, said the university was delighted to receive funding to support the wool sector.

“This is the most significant amount of funding ever allocated to wool research in Ireland and was driven by the publishing of the Wool Feasibility Study in 2022, and with the support of the Irish Grown Wool Council and the Wool Research Hub,” he said.