Dr. Orlaigh Quinn:

The Chairman has already introduced my colleagues so I will not go through that again. It is, however, important to note the role of the Department in terms of enterprise policy and to note that as part of all of our strategic work and our policies we are involved in recognising the role of enterprise and the need for sustainable development. We know that the development of low-carbon, bio and circular economies presents commercial opportunities to companies across many sectors in Ireland, and we work on that basis.

In my statement I have touched on the importance we are placing on the Future Jobs for Ireland initiative, which will be launched next year. This very much takes into account environmental issues, international agreements and industry responses around the global economy and the technology sector.

Regional development is a particular concern of Government and we have focused very strongly on the need for balanced regional development and job creation. My statement includes some data on the work the Department has done in that area, which is all focused within the development of the national planning framework. This is also focused on sustainable enterprise.

We are particularly involved in innovation policy, which is very strong with regard to our strategy for research development. Again, this has a strong focus on Ireland being a global innovation leader while being very focused on sustainable resource management. This brings us into many of the areas this committee is looking at with regard to climate change and decarbonisation. The Department has completed a major refresh of our research priority areas, which includes energy, climate action and sustainability; advanced and smart manufacturing; and sustainable food production and processing.

Disruptive technology is another initiative of the Department where we have highlighted and put out a major call. We have had a very successful response to that and it will be coming through at the end of the year.

The Department is represented on a wide number of committees across Government. We contribute from our research perspective and from the corporate perspective. Corporate responsibility is something on which we lead and we are taking a very strong approach and we are working with companies to develop it. All of this is around mitigation efforts. We are involved in adapting and mitigating and we have reviewed all of our policies from the climate perspective.

The Department also recognises that there are many opportunities for Irish business. The whole development of the bio-economy and the circular economy provides opportunities for Irish companies to get involved. We have reflected that.

I have given the committee some details of the schemes in the mitigation sector. I have touched on the role of our enterprise agencies IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, and on the strong partnerships working with industry in this area, and in particular Science Foundation Ireland. I am delighted that Professor Ferguson can be with us today. There are 17 research centres and I am sure that Professor Ferguson can speak about those and the impact they have, and on how we develop.

This is a very short breakdown of the written statement that I had submitted to the committee.