John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments on innovation. I acknowledge that we have not reached the 2.5% target but that is true of many countries across Europe. The innovation barometer is taken as part of our GDP so the current figure of 1.45% is probably inaccurate. The Department believes that it is probably higher than that at 1.6% or 1.7%.

On amendment No. 1, the Deputy will be aware that we invited Members of the Seanad and the Dáil to meet departmental officials to discuss it.

The big issue about which many people were concerned was capturing the web. The committee's recommendations at the time outlined the creation of a full digital deposit system intended to facilitate recording, archiving and utilisation for research purposes of the website for Irish domain names, which are not currently archived. While the intention is to record material that may otherwise be removed from the web over time, it is a significant project that requires muti-institutional collaboration, significant resources and a skill set for capturing Ireland’s digital record. An amendment requesting the introduction of such a system was tabled on Committee Stage in the this House and it resulted in good discussions with Deputies on the intention of capturing the web. Deputy Lawless's amendment remains part of the Bill and it is dealt with in section 3. In case he might think that it is not in the Bill, I assure him that it is.

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