Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide funding from the Health Research Board for research into the treatment of Rett Syndrome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19423/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Health Research Board (HRB) is a statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Health. The HRB is the lead agency in Ireland supporting and funding health research. It provides funding, maintains health information systems, and conducts research linked to national health priorities. The aim is to improve people's health, build health research capacity, and make a significant contribution to Ireland's knowledge economy.

The Health Research Board strategy supports three broad research areas: -

- applied biomedical and clinical research

- population health sciences research

- health services research

Within these areas the HRB funds a range of scheme types from PhD scholars programmes, through post-doctoral and health professional fellowships to larger programme awards and support for infrastructure.

The HRB does not ring-fence funding for any particular type of disease or disorder. It does not exclude any field of health research once it meets the HRB's criteria .

Applications for HRB funding derive from bottom-up, open, competitive calls. This means that the idea for the research topic, whether it is for a particular disease area or linked to health services delivery, comes from the researcher. All proposals are evaluated by rigorous international peer review which focuses on the quality of the proposal, track record of the applicant, quality of the research environment, as well as potential outcomes and impacts. This process is very important for ensuring independence and maintaining high standards in the research that the HRB funds. Research proposals deemed to be excellent and in line with the HRB's strategic areas are ranked and matched against the available budget.

The HRB has developed a co-funding arrangement with the Medical Research Charities Group( MRCG) , whereby it can support research into rare diseases and disorders. Each year the MRCG invites proposals for research in diseases and disorders of interest to its members and the HRB manages the rigorous evaluation of these applications through its peer review process to ensure their quality. This partnership commits over €2M in funding each year to this scheme.