Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----but I will put it like this. Making progress in respect of PhD researchers is a priority ask from me in the conversations I will have with the Government. Often, not everything is done in one budget but I want to put us on a pathway to get to a better place. It is important to say that many Departments are involved in this and have an interest in us succeeding in this agenda. However, there are also many Departments involved in funding. While SFI and IRC stipends come under the remit of my Department, Teagasc comes under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Health Research Board is under the Department of Health. Individual universities provide their own stipends as well. There are a few moving parts in this but step one is to publish this report next week, and then engage with colleagues to try to make progress on the Estimates.