Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister of State confirm whether a plan has been prepared? If the answer is in the negative, will he indicate when one will be prepared and submitted to the Commission for consideration? The role played by Ms Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, our Commissioner to the EU, in respect of this matter should be acknowledged. This is the only area in respect of which an increase has been achieved under the new EU budget. The Commissioner will remain in Europe for a few months more and it would be a shame if we did not use her skills - particularly as I cannot see her being replaced by anyone of equivalent ability - in order to maximise opportunities for Ireland under Horizon 2020. We should also use her expertise afterwards.

In specific terms the question must be asked, is there a plan? If there is not, when will one be prepared and submitted? Will there be opportunities through, for example, the local enterprise office, LEO, network for funding to be provided to SMEs which may not be linked to third level institutions or their PhD programmes but which may want to expand their operations by using opportunities available under Horizon 2020?

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