Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that all of our eggs are in one basket. There are many other avenues through which funding is provided, including the Irish Research Council, the Department of Education and Skills and Horizon 2020, through which €1.25 billion can be drawn down. Deputy Naughten cited the example of Connacht Rugby. We must look at areas in which Ireland can perform well. We have placed our bets in areas such as data analytics, nanotechnology, advanced materials, marine, food and food for health, all of which are areas that are important to our enterprise base. These are areas of world-class research in which we are breaking new ground but they are also areas that are relevant. Any team that is building must look at how it can build competitive strengths to enable it beat the opposition. That is what Connacht Rugby has done very effectively, as we now know.

We believe we are doing exactly what the Deputy is asking that we do, namely, we are building competitive strengths in areas where Ireland can be world class. The evidence indicates that we have done better than most countries in terms of the ranking we hold in respect of the impact of our investment in research.

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