Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to meet members and I will make opening comments on the Supplementary Estimate being sought by my Department. The committee will recall that in my presentation on 22 September I mentioned the possibility of additional capital moneys being provided to my Department in 2016. Arising from the discussions with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have been able to secure the agreement for the provision of an additional €35 million in capital moneys for my Department. In addition, I have also secured agreement to redirect a further sum of €25 million of existing departmental funding which will not be spent in 2016 as originally intended. This means that the Department has an overall total package of €60 million for further capital investment in 2016. The proposed distribution of this €60 million is an additional €1 million to support local enterprise offices, LEOs, and €10 million to Microfinance Ireland, MFI. My colleague, Deputy Breen, will provide the committee with some detail as to how this additional money will be distributed between the LEOs and Microfinance Ireland, MFI. The remaining €49 million of the investment package will be directed at research and development supports, with significant additional capital funding to Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, the programme for research in third level institutes, PRTLI, and Ireland's involvement in the European Space Agency's research and development programmes. SFI will be provided with an additional €27 million, thereby bringing its overall capital investment in 2016 to €184 million. This is the highest ever level of capital investment by the foundation in a single year.

This additional capital money will allow SFI to fund the acquisition of critically needed research equipment across each of the seven universities and also assist a number of other research bodies such as Teagasc, Waterford IT, Tyndall National Institute and the Royal College of Surgeons. The acquisition of this vital equipment will directly support research in key strategic areas, such as medical devices, immunology, agrifood, drug delivery, etc.

Through the programme for research in third level institutions, the Supplementary Estimate will allow for an additional €20 million to be provided to meet the State's commitments under the PRTLI programme. The PRTLI operates in cycles of funding of typically five to six years. The current cycle, cycle five, was initiated in 2011 and involved a total of €350 million in awards to higher education institutes, spanning 33 distinct projects. The State committed €290 million with the remaining €60 million coming from private moneys. The provision of the additional €20 million will now allow the State to accelerate the timescale from meeting its outstanding commitments under PRTLI cycle five. This in turn will help in progressing the plans for launching cycle six, which are actively being worked on by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills.

Finally, the remaining additional €2 million provided for in the package will be invested in a number of specific European Space Agency programmes. These investments will essentially help to meet liabilities in respect of contracts which are in the process of being placed with Irish companies. My Department's investment in the ESA programmes will total more than €19 million this year. Ireland derives from it a number of concrete benefits for our economy, including a fourfold increase in commercial sales by Irish companies involved in the high-tech space sector, with sales amounting to €75 million in 2015 and employment in ESA supported companies in Ireland increasing from 1,300 in 2008 to 2,000 in 2014. Employment is expected to double to more than 5,000 by 2020. It is fair to say that capital investment through the Department's innovation programme has played a significant part in ensuring that Ireland is recognised as a leading research performing nation. This is borne out by a rapid ascent in the accepted international scientific rankings, where we are now ranked in the top ten of leading research performing nations in the world. These additional innovation supports concretely demonstrate that Ireland is committed to punching above its weight as a research and development performing nation. It also ensures that research and development can continue to be a significant element of Ireland's offering in terms of attracting mobile foreign direct investment.

With the Chairman's agreement, I now invite my colleague to provide the committee with some details of the LEO offices and Microfinance Ireland elements to the Supplementary Estimate package.