Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would welcome any initiative to try to encourage a greater spend on research and development. I understand that is the motivation here.

We set targets in our various science strategies to reach a higher level of spend on research and development, both public and private, but we have not reached them yet when we compare ourselves with other countries that are where we would like to be. I welcome any incentives which encourage that and increase that expenditure. That will naturally lead to companies, including start-ups, locating, bedding in and developing here. The knock-on effect on job creation is also key.

Aside from the rates of research and development, the message needs to go through our organisations that we want to encourage more of this to find as many ways as possible for SMEs to avail of these credits and not be afraid to take them on. It is not always as simple to avail of them as people would think. They can be complicated. I would like to see the Minister send a strong message to our agencies, including Revenue, that we like to see companies using these credits, particularly SMEs, and putting them to good use for job creation, business expansion and growth.