Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 634: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on funding a number of bio-incubator labs on publicly owned land in Youghal, County Cork for the purposes of attracting biotechnology companies into this region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1345/08]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 635: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on funding a number of bio-incubator labs on publicly owned land in Mallow, County Cork for the purposes of attracting biotechnology companies to the region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1347/08]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 636: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on funding a number of bio-incubator labs on publicly owned land in Mitchelstown, County Cork for the purposes of attracting biotechnology companies into this region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1348/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 634 to 636, inclusive, together.

Funding is provided for the establishment of Enterprise Incubators through a programme operated by Enterprise Ireland in the context of company creation rather than as a process through which new companies are attracted to a specific region or regions. The types of companies that occupy existing facilities are firms which have "spun out" from third level funded research and as such there is a need for incubation space to be located near, or physically linked to, a parent third level facility rather than green field sites.

To date, Enterprise Ireland's Bio-Incubator centres have all been linked to university research on the basis of the necessary scale and the required research competencies of Lifescience based research activities.