Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a new PhD programme which will fund a number of areas of research. There are 700 PhD and research masters students as a result of the Government investment of €100 million over nine years. The six areas where research will be focused are machine learning, digitally enhanced reality, advanced networks for sustainable societies, the foundations of data science, artificial intelligence and genomics data science. Research has served us well in this country and we need to continue to invest in it. It is a question of how we can use research to our advantage to keep us at the cutting edge of what is happening in the new technology revolution we are undergoing at present.