Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is about how we best maximise money for research. I do not have all the figures here today but I ask Deputy Connolly to trust me that the private end has been higher than the public end for a long number of years. Let us be fair about this. It is important that we maximise the opportunity. We differ on the need to have a blend of public and private money in research. To me it is about how we maximise the impact of expenditure. This is done by combining the two in many ways. This is not an approach shared by Deputy Paul Murphy. I am not sure of the approach of Deputy Connolly but I know Deputy Murphy believes it should be all taxpayers' money. I believe that would miss out on opportunities that we have to build on.

With regard to COVAX I do not have the figures but I will get them for Deputy Connolly.

See this speech in context