Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

May I respond very quickly? I know we are coming to a quick break. I have three points. The Deputy called for more research to be done regarding the operation of the research and development tax credit. The Department published a paper evaluating the operation of this credit in September, which is publicly available, because the Deputy is right, this is a large amount of taxpayers' money.

I have a second point just to bring this to life. The Deputy talks about large companies and the variety of companies that will access the credit. Let us look at the number of individuals who work in research and development for companies that have drawn down the research and development tax credit. In 2013, there were 24,785 such people. By 2019, this had increased to 27,755. The researchers are not just those who received a very good education in Ireland. There are also researchers from other universities all over the world who come to Ireland to work in these companies. We are not talking about just giving a benefit to these large companies. The benefit flows through to these people who are based in Ireland when doing this work, thereby contributing to our economic development. The number of researchers based in Ireland grew by a fifth between 2013 and 2019. That is a very positive development for our economy and for its sustainability in the time ahead.

I will address a final point the Deputy made, which he makes to me regularly and which is an important point, on the parity and relationship between the value of the credit and the value of Government funding for the higher education sector. The last figure available to me regarding Government funding for research and development in the higher education sector comes from 2018, when it stood at €672 million. In 2020, the equivalent cost of the research and development tax credit was €658 million. This is being built on year on year. We are now investing €670 million in research and development, which is a bigger sum, although I grant not by much, than the value of the research and development tax credit. In any event, that tax credit is influencing the lives of those 27,755 people who are now based in Ireland and contributing to our economy and our society through their engagement in research and development. That is what this tax credit is all about.