Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To conclude on this item of correspondence, members will recall that we included this topic - the full costing from all taxpayer sources - in our report last summer. We received and considered the response from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and rejected it. It just said it was impossible to do it. The Revenue Commissioners expect people to do it if they are looking for tax credits. It appears that the public service has not been on top of this.

No. 1077B, the note we received with this correspondence, is from the director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, Alison Campbell. We just asked a simple question about a spin-out project currently being considered for 2018. It was a simple question and we received a half-page reply. It states that it is at various stages of maturation and that any list of spin-out prospects will necessarily be larger than any number of prospects that ultimately launch spin offs. We know that. The note stated that the list of spin-outs being considered for 2018 is a snapshot at a point in time. That is all we asked for. The note said that in the timescale for response to the request from the committee, it was not possible to gather details of the number of spin-out opportunities under consideration across the 21 higher education authorities. That is a clear admission that it does not have that information, which is shocking in its own right. The note goes on to say that details can be included by way of a follow-on so we wait to receive that. We will ask for that. The note said that due to commercial sensitivity, the names of the technologies cannot be made public. That is fine. The note said that by way of context, the annual knowledge transfer survey showed that Ireland is creating an average of 26 to 30 new spin-out companies per annum from its 21 higher education authorities and a further five research performing organisations, RPOs. The committee can see there is quite a bit in there. Members can see that we asked a simple question and Knowledge Transfer Ireland said it did not have the information and would try to find it. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was asked how much money was going in and it told us it did not know.