John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the difficulties in research and development as the Deputy will probably know is that some of the major multinational companies do their own research and development and do much of it outside of Ireland. That is a well known factor. The objective of the Innovation 2020 is to try to persuade those countries that Ireland has quality people to do research and development competitively. It can be done at a competitive price compared to having it done outside the country. This is applicable to industries that have been here a long time but still decide to conduct their research and development outside the country. I am not saying that is unacceptable, they may not accept me saying that but I think we need to persuade some of the major industries that the people are here and that the Innovation 2020 strategy will ensure there are graduates. We are endeavouring to try to retain our graduates and that is the reason we have allocated a great deal of money to the research and development fund. The bulk of the money goes into research and development.