Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the innovation task force and the fund being set up, expressions of interest have been sought and advertised in international financial newspapers and people from abroad are in Ireland this week with regard to this matter. That has been very much welcomed. We also increased the level of research and development that will be available and that is set out in the revised capital programme. We have also ensured that, starting this year, there will be double points for mathematics, which is another key recommendation.

During the week, I spoke to people from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA who indicated that up to half of the recommendations are being implemented even as we speak. It is a very important part of the work they are doing to provide more supports for Irish industry, to make it as competitive as possible and to ensure that innovation is at the centre of what they do. This year, the 1,000th innovation voucher was issued to an Irish company; that is to say more than 1,000 companies use that scheme, which is a means of providing grant aid for the introduction of innovative practices into operations. More than 300 research-led expert teams in the research and development area operate in Irish universities and institutes of technology on such matters. There is a large range of ongoing activity in the area of improving Irish industry and making it more competitive in the innovation area.

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