Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

The primary funder of postgraduate research is SFI, which is under the aegis of our sister Department, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The primary funder of postgraduate funding and postdoctoral fellowships is that Department. We have a more limited fund in the IRC and we work in partnership with SFI and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. There is a small unit which is located within the Higher Education Authority. I could not say how many people are working on the IRC but I think it is two or three.

I was not aware of any delays in processing. The processing of payments is one thing, but the IRC also has a very peer-reviewed approach to deciding what gets funded. The Deputy might be referring to that. That is at the heart of the work of the IRC and that is undertaken in a very professional, academic way. The Deputy might be referring to the time to come to a decision in that regard.