Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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147. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills following the publication of Innovation 2020, the amount of her 2016 departmental budget which she will allocate to basic research under the new Frontier Research Fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45521/15]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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148. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills following the publication of Innovation 2020, the persons who will be allowed to apply under the new Frontier Research Fund, when applications will open and close, the amount of moneys that have been allocated for this fund over the course of the strategy, by year, the maximum grant amount that can be drawn down per year, the type of grants that will be dispersed, including Ph.D and post-doctoral research, the scientific disciplines which will be accommodated for grant funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45524/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together.

Under Innovation 2020 a new competitive fund to support researchers to undertake project-based frontier research, and to develop as Principal Investigators, is to be established by the Irish Research Council. Funding will be awarded on the basis of the excellence of the research proposals, assessed through a rigorous and international peer-review process. It will be open to all disciplines and career stages post PhD over the implementation of the programme. In 2016, the IRC will begin developing the parameters of the programme along with its terms and conditions, with the intention to launching the first call for proposals in the latter half of 2016. Given the timeframe from the call issue to the award of grants, no funding implications arise in 2016. The funding requirements for the IRC, including the new research frontiers programme, will be agreed in the context of the 2017 estimates process.