Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the support expressed by Deputy Tóibín for the patents law, which is long-awaited and which will be beneficial, with an estimated potential saving of €30,000 per patent. However, I do not think that patent law can get into the much wider issue of transfer pricing. Patent law is essentially about protecting intellectual property rights while transfer pricing belongs in the realm of revenue law. There are international codes that set out what are legitimate rules on transfer pricing. I am aware that there is a very lively debate ongoing on transfer pricing but it is a much wider debate than is contemplated here.

Deputy Tóibín raised the issue of regional aid guidelines in the context of state aid rules, which are up for review next year, as he pointed out. The discussion we will be having next week is not specifically concerned with the regional aid guidelines. The issue raised by the Deputy is very actively debated around the country. Ireland has a certain percentage coverage, which is 50% at present, and the regional spread that we have chosen includes the BMW region, Limerick and the South East and so forth. That predates my coming into office but is based on various statistical indicators of disadvantage in the regions. The issue will come up for full debate next year but the general thrust of the Commission's plan is to reduce the areas that are covered by regional aid. I would imagine it will be very difficult to get the figures heading in the other direction. For the benefit of committee members, the aforementioned indicators of disadvantage include GDP per capita in purchasing power standard, PPS and unemployment. The objective of the Commission and a number of member states is to reduce regional aid rather than to increase its geographic coverage. That will be a very lively debate and we will be making the case that Ireland has suffered increased and particularly adverse dislocation which must be taken into account.

I agree with Deputy Tóibín that an industrial development ambition is all very fine but we need to have effect instruments to implement it. From the Commission's point of view, Horizon 2020 would be a very significant instrument in that it covers research, its commercialisation and application. The Deputy is correct that a lot of countries, including Ireland, are struggling to reach their targets. The 3% target is for the EU as a whole and each member state has to try to contribute as best it can to that. Ireland has set a target of 2.5% of GNP for 2020, taking into account our public finance position. Two thirds of that is to come from the private sector, with the remaining one third from the public sector. Even in the midst of this difficult recession we are, by and large, maintaining our research budgets because we believe it is vital. As the Deputy will know, we have carried out a prioritisation exercise to make sure we are expending our research funding in areas where commercialisation is likely.