Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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304. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his Department has received a copy of the OECD Regional Development Working Paper 2013/20 The Case of Ireland - Northern Ireland - Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders; the actions that will be taken to implement the reports recommendations; and if he will table the report for discussion at the next North South Ministerial Council meetings. [25587/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I very much welcome the publication of the recent OECD report which I discussed with my counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive, Ms. Arlene Foster MLA, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and with InterTrade Ireland,earlier this year in Armagh, at a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council - Trade & Business Development Sectoral. I also participated in an event to mark the report’s launch, with Minister Foster, on the same day.

This report looked at cross border innovation linkages across the island of Ireland and I am very pleased that it gave a very positive review of the key measures we have put in place to help drive Innovation on a cross border basis. It noted that InterTrade Irelandis a rare example internationally of a cross-border entity to promote trade and innovation, which is co-funded by respective Governments. I am very committed to the work of this cross-border body which we co-fund, with our counterpart Department in Northern Ireland, and, despite the very challenging financial climate we have faced for the last few years, InterTrade Ireland's innovative range of programmes for businesses on both sides of the border have been kept operational and are very successful.

It is also very encouraging that the OECD highlighted as 'noteworthy' other initiatives which my Department supports, such as the shared programme between Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland in relation to the provision of Innovation Vouchers; the US - Ireland Research and Development Partnership Programme and the INTERREG Cross Border Programme, which has included the funding of some innovation-oriented projects.

I have asked my officials to consider the specific recommendations contained in this report and InterTrade Irelandis looking at relevant actions which that body could pursue. Some of these suggested actions involve administrative issues, which may not have resource implications; others may require financial support or potentially involve political issues, which would necessitate in-depth engagement between both administrations. One of the key recommendations proposes that InterTrade Irelandshould be involved as a delivery partner for the next INTERREG Programme; we are already actively pursuing whether this could be achieved.

I would envisage further discussion on this report at a future meeting of the North South Ministerial Council.