Mr. David Hegarty:

About 25% to 40% of the IDA's budget is also in the area of research and development. Increasingly over time, therefore, more and more of our Department's budget is being allocated towards research and development, which we see as key to improving the innovation and productivity performance of MNCs and SMEs. Obviously, though, the programmes funded under the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science would be significantly bigger.

Additionally, we have the research and development tax credit, which is an important intervention in this area. Each year, our Department prepares a submission for the Department of Finance on taxation issues. One of the areas we have focused on in recent years has been the research and development tax credit. Essentially, we have been trying to make this scheme more accessible to SMEs. Most of the take-up is by the multinational sector, and we see a need to try to make this scheme easier for SMEs to access. Some commentators would argue that sometimes these kinds of tax incentives are easier for firms to access in terms of the take-up of research and development. I do not know if any of my colleagues wish to comment as well.