Food Drink Ireland (FDI) is calling on the government to provide support in Budget 2026 to help businesses battle increasing costs.

FDI, which is the Ibec group representing the food and drink sector, has published a submission to government calling for a range of measures to be included in the national budget.

The submission calls for supports to help the sector "build resilience" against increased costs; ongoing trade and supply disruptions; and wider competitive pressures.

It also calls for the introduction of a state aid support scheme to support food and drink businesses transitioning their operations to lower-carbon technologies to grow their markets.

FDI is also calling for the government to announce a subvention in Budget 2026 for the fixed cost component on energy bills, and to absorb the non-domestic water tariff increase for 2025/2026, minimising the impact of utility costs.

The body also wants measures put in place to offset the growing cost of labour.

Other measures included in the FDI submission include:

Supporting the upskilling of people within food businesses by introducing a 'national training fund voucher scheme' and providing an additional €15 million to Skillnet Ireland to help meet current demand and expand reach of existing networks;
Maximising the impact of the Research and Development Tax Credit, and expanding the scheme to include incremental innovation in the food sector, process innovation, artificial intelligence (AI) and green technologies;
Introducing a €5 million fund for the sector to reduce calories, saturated fat, sugar and salt in food (known as product reformulation);
Introducing a state-supported export credit insurance scheme.

The submission also makes a number of recommendations to "support the continuing sustainability journey of the sector and measures to support the experience economy".

Commenting on the FDI budget submission, its director Paul Kelly said: "Cost pressures weigh heavily on the sector. The most widely expected cost increases are in the areas of wage growth; investment in sustainability; cost of raw materials; investment in digitalisation; and cost of transport.

"Many of these pressures are heavily influenced by government policy in Ireland and it is critical that budget policy can support the sector in addressing its competitiveness challenges and harness opportunities for further growth, particularly within the context [of a] volatile trading environment," Kelly added.