Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

The Minister, Deputy Bruton, and I have had separate meetings recently with the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, with a view to building strong relationships to ensure Ireland maximises the benefits of our position in the European Union in terms of jobs and opportunities to further develop the economy. Most recently, the Minister met the Commissioner on 24 June when they held an event in Dublin to highlight opportunities for Irish researchers, businesses and educational institutions under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, FP7. The Commissioner highlighted the fact that upcoming calls for proposals under FP7 in July 2011 and July 2012 would be worth approximately €18 billion.

With a budget of over €50 billion in the period 2007 to 2013, FP7 is the European Union's main instrument for funding research and development in Europe. In order to extract the maximum benefit from the opportunities available within FP7, a national support network has been put in place, headed by the national director for FP7 based in Enterprise Ireland who leads a team of national contact points for various elements of the programme. This support structure ensures a co-ordinated and coherent approach is adopted towards FP7 across all the Departments, agencies and other organisations involved. Through this support structure, a mix of guidance, advice and financial assistance is available to encourage researchers and companies, large and small, to avail of the opportunities within the programme. The range of financial supports available includes travel support which assists researchers to meet potential partners and proposal preparation support for academic co-ordinators and companies, covering all costs included with the submission of FP7 applications. Ireland's target for the drawdown of funds from FP7 in the lifetime of the programme is €600 million. Achievement of this target is well on track, with some €300 million already awarded to date. I am determined that we will achieve the target set.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The next European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, to be called Horizon 2020, will operate from 2014 to 2020, for which the European Commission has proposed a budget of €80 billion in its recently published multi-annual financial framework for the period. While no target has been set for the next framework programme which has yet to be proposed by the Commission and agreed by the Council, I am determined to ensure ambitious Government policies are in place in order that we can continue to improve our performance.

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