Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of his Department’s €458 million capital spending for 2013 that will go towards construction projects; the projects are involved; the details of these projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5278/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Gross Exchequer Capital Allocation for 2013 for my Department is €458 million.

This Capital funding is primarily expended through various agencies under the remit of my Department, including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, Shannon Development, Inter Trade Ireland, INTERREG, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, and the 35 City and County Enterprise Boards. Capital funding has also been allocated for expenditure by my Department in 2013 in respect of the Temporary Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions.

The funding provided to the agencies is used to operate programmes that provide a range of grants, supports and financial facilities to clients. Capital funding also covers the maintenance and development of the agencies’ buildings and upgrading of equipment.

Details of the Capital funding provided towards construction projects by a number of the agencies/programmes under the remit of my Department in 2013 are provided below:

Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions (PRTLI)

Under the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions (PRTLI) Capital funding is being provided through my Department in 2013 to meet expenditure commitments and to maintain continued support to 20 research projects that are construction related. These infrastructure projects cover buildings, research laboratories and some research equipment. These strategically important projects will enhance Ireland’s competitive offering in a range of research and innovation areas spanning ICT, pharmaceutical, medical devices/technologies, energy and environment, food, culture and creative sectors, and nanotechnology. The PRTLI also includes matching private and EU co-funding with most projects having multiple academic and industry partners.

The Deputy should also note that the PRTLI element is often part of bigger infrastructure projects supported across the various colleges. The PRTLI programme is administered on behalf of my Department by the Higher Education Authority.

The specific PRTLI capital infrastructural projects being supported by my Department (with lead higher education institution listed) at this time are:

Centre for Research in Advanced Therapeutic Engineering – Cork IT;

Nano-BioAnalytical Research Facility – Dublin City University;

Environmental Health Sciences Institute – Dublin IT;

Advancing Medicine through Discovery – NUI Galway;

Arts Humanities Social Sciences Research Building – NUI Galway;

Innovation Value Institute – NUI Maynooth;

NUI Maynooth ICT Infrastructure Development;

Irish Transgenic Network – Trinity College Dublin;

The TCD Biomedical Sciences Development – Trinity College Dublin;

Translating Biosciences into Health – University College Cork (UCC);

Environmental Research Institute at the Maritime and Energy Cluster, Ireland – (now rebranded as IMERC) – UCC;

Generating Wealth through Innovative & Collaborative Research – UCC;

BSI West – UCC;

Tyndall FlexiFab for Applied Convergent Nanotechnologies – Tyndall National Institute, Cork;

Nanomechanical Approaches and Functional Materials for Regenerative Medicine – University College Dublin (UCD);

UCD Science Centre - CASL and CLARITY;

UCD Science Centre - Earth Systems Institute;

UCD Science Centre - Systems Biology Ireland;

UCD Science Centre - Radiopharmaceutical Research and Service Centre;

National Centre for Applied Materials Research – University of Limerick.

These projects, being supported primarily under PRTLI Cycle 5 which was initiated in 2011, amount to a public/private investment of approximately €259m. The investment is expected to provide employment of close to 2,000 construction related jobs over the course of this Cycle of funding.

Enterprise Ireland

A vibrant start-up culture is essential to the dynamism of the Irish economy. Stimulating the flow of new high-potential start-ups (HPSUs) is one of the fundamental building blocks in Enterprise Ireland’s overall strategy for indigenous industrial development.

To this end Enterprise Ireland, through its Research and Innovation Programme, has supported the development of campus incubation centres in the Universities and Institutes of Technology with the objective of fostering spinouts from research in the colleges, and spin-ins from outside the college environment which leverage third-level expertise to develop their start-up venture. The Campus Incubators are particularly important in providing a halfway house for academics who are transitioning towards launching a research spin-out, as well as providing initial incubation space for the entrepreneurs emerging successfully from Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers entrepreneur development programme.

At present, there are 330 companies in campus incubation units across the country, employing about 1,500 people. These start-ups are operating across a range of areas including software, environmental technologies and digital media.

EI has invested €50m to date in the provision of campus incubation facilities across the state. At this stage, all Universities and Institutes of Technology have on-campus incubators already built and operational, with the exception of the National University of Ireland Maynooth where an incubation facility is at the design stage, and DIT, who plan to build a facility on the Grangegorman campus.

In total in 2013 €1m is expected to paid in respect of campus incubation activities.

IDA Ireland

IDA Ireland’s Capital allocation for 2013 provides funding towards IDA’s property function and grant payments.

The grant payments provided for in 2013 are in relation to projects which have been approved in previous years. The majority of grants paid in 2013 will be in the areas of Research, Development and Innovation, Training and Employment Projects and a small number of New Industry (Capital) Projects. These latter grants are paid in the main for construction projects by client companies. Grants are drawn down by Client Companies on reaching the relevant grant payment milestones and targets.

Commercial sensitivities and the demand led nature of payments preclude IDA Ireland from providing details of payments that will be made for New Industry Grants in 2013 until they are drawn down. However, as an example of payments made in previous years, a table of New Industry Grants paid over the last five years is listed below:

INTERREG

My Department co-funds a range of Enterprise projects under an INTERREG North-South programme. It is anticipated that approximately €800,000 of my Department’s expenditure under this programme in 2013 will be incurred on construction projects, which will involve the provision of various facilities to assist the development of specific enterprise initiatives in the border region.