Mr. Pat Kelly:

Yes, but that does not address Deputy Donnelly’s specific question because he is talking about community groups and others. Research funding, unlike the funding we have been discussing up to now is funding that is available to the European community on a competitive basis. Groups of researchers and companies come together on collaborative projects and they apply for funding which is awarded on a competitive basis.

In terms of Ireland’s success in activating and applying for this money, we currently have a target of €600 million from the current framework programme and we fully expect to achieve the target. We are doing quite well. We have already received awards totalling €480 million from the current framework programme. It is not the case that there is not good awareness in the community, both in academia and in business, we are doing better than the European average. Research funding is something that is quite well known. We would expect it to continue during the next programme. The question related more to community group funding and smaller pots of money.