Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am amused when the Department comes back and says that a proposal is "resource intensive". In other words, the Department does not want to do it and will resist. The same reply is given for parliamentary questions and so on.

The remit has been extended but the budget is being reduced, so some areas will lose core funding. Has the Department conducted an analysis to determine which research areas will be affected? Who will lose if research is extended into other areas?

At the outset the Minister of State mentioned the research prioritisation report that recommends funding to be provided for more than the identified core areas. SFI has stated that when the Bill is passed, 100% of its programme funding will go to its priority areas. That means that there is a contradiction between the Bill and the research prioritisation report. My amendment would allow us to see where funding goes. The Bill only relates to SFI. The other institutions are covered by other legislation and we shall go after them under their headings. I want to see where SFI spends its money. Is it spent on core research? Is other research undertaken? Its funding partners are private enterprises that have a responsibility to their shareholders. Other agencies are the responsibility of other committees and we shall get after them under those committees. Today we are dealing with the SFI and we want to know how and where it spends its money.