John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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725. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount spent on research and development in food-related activities on an annual basis from 2010 to 2016 in tabular form. [23789/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Expenditure by my Department on collaborative, institutional-led research projects funded under the competitively operated Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) and focusing only on post farm gate food related research activities over the period was as follows:

Annual expenditure for 2016 is clearly not available at this time.

This expenditure covers FIRM funded research projects only. My Department also funds many aspects of the development of the food sector directly, or via funding provided to Teagasc, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and Enterprise Ireland. The Department also funds related primary agricultural and marine research both directly through its competitively operated Stimulus programme and via funding provided to Teagasc and the Marine Institute. In addition, other national funders such as Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland would also have incurred public expenditure on R&D in food related activities during this period.

These figures relate mainly to expenditure on previously awarded project grants and, therefore, do not reflect the full extent of commitments made to food research under FIRM in the years covered because a significant portion of this remains to be paid out over future years on foot of satisfactory progress being achieved on projects, typically over a four year timeframe.