Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is considering adding geothermal energy as a priority area in the National Research Prioritisation Exercise. [42384/12]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The recommendations of the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group, as adopted by Government Decision on February 21st 2012, were made within the context of a 5 year time-frame. I personally chair the Research Prioritisation Action Group tasked with driving implementation of the recommendations in the report and a primary focus of our agenda is to target support towards the 14 priority areas identified as offering the greatest opportunity in terms of economic and societal impact. Implementation is still in the early stages and we still have some way to go to bed down prioritisation fully. In this context and for the moment at least, consideration is not being given to adding to the list of 14 priority areas.

However, as the Deputy may be aware, Marine Renewable Energy is one of the 14 priority areas with a focus on positioning Ireland as a research, development and innovation hub for the deployment of marine renewable energy technologies and services. Along with a number of other priority areas (e.g. Food for Health, Sustainable Food Production and Processing, Smart Grids and Smart Cities) the focus on Marine Renewable Energy will serve simultaneously to generate enterprise, improve quality of life and help meet legally binding obligations. This will help sustain and promote our reputation as a ‘green economy’ ensuring the economy is competitive, inclusive and provides a high standard of living with lower environmental impacts.

The Deputy may also be aware of the International Energy Research Centre (IERC) which is an industry led, world-leading, collaborative programme of research and innovation in integrated sustainable energy system technologies. The IERC was established in April 2010 with a commitment to provide €20m funding from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and is located at the Tyndall National Institute, based in Cork. The IERC brings together international companies and researchers in the energy space, leveraging research capabilities and technologies to find commercial solutions to the global energy demand challenge.