Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Minister is saying and I have no difficulty with the principle of a substantial amount of funding going into that particular avenue. In my view, however, we are now putting all of our eggs in the one basket. A number of years ago the IRFU tried to close down Connacht Rugby on the basis of the west of Ireland not having the required capacity or strengths in relation to rugby. Had it succeeded, we would not have had the performances over the past number of weeks by the Connacht Rugby team. The Government appears to be taking the same attitude in relation to SFI funding. Most developed economies, including Austria which has a population similar to that of Ireland, are spending double the amount of money we are spending in research, with one third of that funding going into basic research of new ideas to develop capacity and strengths within those economies.

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