Mr. John Murphy:

I will turn to Deputy Collins's questions. She asked how the Department assesses research and development and its importance. A substantial research prioritisation exercise was undertaken, in consultation with the industry and various other stakeholders, in the last year and a half. It was led by Jim O'Hara, who is a former chief executive of Intel in Ireland, and that group identified a number of sectors in which we should prioritise public funding because they offered the best prospects of economic return over time. Rather than dissipating scarce resources over a large number of sectors, we must concentrate our effort in the sectors that are likely to give us the most significant return. I should add that the funds to which I refer, which come through Science Foundation Ireland in the main, are not the sum total of public funding for research. There are other sources, through the Irish Research Council, which funds basic research in the universities, because it is important that it not be neglected.