Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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On the first issue, other locations were considered. Essentially, 12 locations in total were selected by IDA Ireland. There are one or two proposals for each of the regions. All of the regions outside Dublin have locations, which were selected on the basis of their effectiveness in the context of attracting IDA Ireland investors. This is the first venture in IDA Ireland's return to providing advance construction. The infrastructure is being located in areas with sectoral strengths, a labour pool that can be marketed as an effective magnet, access to education network and so on. IDA Ireland has a matrix against which it sought to select locations. While it has outlined a certain number of locations, it has not closed off the possibility of additional ones. As I recall it, approximately 30% of the total amount of money is being assigned to these other locations. The distinction between upgrading and securing sites is as the Deputy outlined, upgrading is strengthening the existing base of property to make it more accessible to market whereas the other could be looking at new assets for the continuing regional programme. This programme is part of the regional strategy. Overall success in this area will depend on a number of elements. We will be seeking to work with local authorities to create better support. We will also be seeking to work with the institutes of technology to have a regional skills strategies which will be part of the marketing tool that will be used by IDA Ireland to win investment. A good deal of the other material in the regional plans is designed to bolster the capacity of the regions to win business. This is not a stand-alone instrument with regard to pursuing the 30% to 40% increase. The repayment by clients typically runs to the order of €2 million per year. I do not think we have a specific figure for the year to date but we will see if such data are available.

The issue in regard to Pfizer-Allergan essentially relates to US tax law and instances where companies have decided to make certain decisions about their strategic location. Both companies have a substantial presence in Ireland. IDA Ireland does not encourage inversions in any form and it does not expect that this announcement will have an adverse impact on its capacity to win projects for Ireland. This has been a feature of the landscape for quite some time. Obviously, attention is heightened in the present electoral phase in the US. Clearly, there are issues in American tax law, which, as the Deputy knows, have caused concern. There has not been much change in US tax law in spite of the acknowledgement that there is a problem.

The Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, has done considerable work in dealing with the letter from the research community of SFI. To some degree it was based on some misunderstanding of what they were seeking to do. Today, an additional €5.5 million is being provided in the Supplementary Estimates, specifically to support the research community in building the required infrastructural capacity and to accomplish high quality STEM workers. The Government is developing an innovation strategy which will be published, which is being steered through by the Minister of State. The Supplementary Estimate is definitively a help in term of creating the new business friendly capacity into the future for the research funding. Discussions are ongoing with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the new science strategy funding capacity out to 2020. Today's announcement is a significant help in that regard.

I am very interested in performance indicators. We publish wider indicators than can fit into the Revised Estimates Volume, REV. The REV is a fairly constrained document in which we only have little boxes to fill. We provide much more detailed information in Ireland Stat. Perhaps when we progress the dialogue we can use the wider indicators. We have sought to take on board the view of the committee in September in the ones we are submitting to the REV, which is currently under development. Obviously the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has a key role in deciding what goes into the REV. We work within a framework which they have created more widely, but I am very happy to share with the committee the sort of dashboard of indicators that we publish and track.