Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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19. To ask the Minister for Defence the partners of Defence Forces consortium bids for Horizon 2020; the criteria in deciding who to partner, and the types of projects to become involved with; to assure the Houses of the Oireachtas that there is no participation in any consortium involving Israeli companies or partners, given their appalling record on weapons testing and their use against Palestinians. [34265/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As I have previously stated to the House, there is an ongoing requirement to examine new and innovative means of improving capabilities in the security and the defence domain, so that the Defence Forces are in a position to undertake the roles assigned by Government. The capabilities being researched and developed by the Defence Forces in cooperation with research companies and institutions are wide ranging. They cover capabilities such as Maritime Surveillance; Energy Conservation; Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) research including CBRN Protection, and Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) detection and destruction. Such capabilities may be used at home and also abroad on crisis management missions and operations including humanitarian and peace-keeping missions.

Horizon 2020 is an EU Research and Innovation Programme with approximately €80 billion in funding to be available over 7 years (from 2014 to 2020). The programme is seen as a means to drive economic growth and create jobs and is open to everyone.

Projects proposed by institutes and companies, where they are seeking to partner with, or involve, Defence Forces participation are submitted to the Defence Enterprise Committee for consideration. The Defence Enterprise Committee consists of personnel from the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and Enterprise Ireland. All capabilities to be researched are vetted and agreed at the highest level in the Defence Organisation to ensure compatibility with the roles assigned to the Defence Forces by the Government.

In 2014 the Defence Forces were involved in three separate Horizon 2020 project proposals. Although the projects were unsuccessful the Defence Forces gained a great insight into the workings of H2020, and opened the doors to a network of contacts, which will allow others to realise the expertise and skill that is within the Defence Forces.

This year the Defence Forces are involved in 8 proposals. The proposals cover topics such as CBRN, protection of critical infrastructure, and Maritime Border Security. Whether any of these proposals will be successful in their bid for H2020 will not be known until January 2016. You will appreciate that due to the fact that no decision has been made on the applications for funding and the sensitive nature of this research, I am unable to release the names of those in the consortia. While Israel has the same access to the Horizon 2020 programme as EU Member States and other Associated Countries, my Department is not aware of any involvement of Israeli companies or partners on any of the current consortia in which the Defence Forces are involved.