Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, the Ministers of State and their officials. I notice a certain ministerial nervousness around consultancy fees, which is welcome, but Forfás spent €11.3 million on research in 2012. Will that level of expenditure on research be maintained in the Department? Most important, will the academic independence that Forfás brought to various arguments be maintained in the Department?