Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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200. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the National Digital Research Centre, NDRC, whose budget is paid entirely from State funds, refused to support an initiative to assist the fledgling start-up ecosystem in Palestine, citing NDRC's purported politically neutral status and yet has provided support and sponsorship to a programme of engagement with the start-up ecosystem of Israel, namely, the recent start-up Tel Aviv event held on the NDRC premises on 29 June 2016; his plans to influence the NDRC to co-operate in extending support to the Palestine start-up ecosystem or to cease support for the Israeli start-up ecosystem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34158/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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My Department has no responsibility for the operation or decisions of the NDRC. I am not aware of the substance or basis of the two decisions referred to by the Deputy, neither what was proposed nor what was the outcome. I therefore have no basis on which to comment.

The role of NDRC is to support digital start-ups in Ireland. It may well be that this can be helped by co-operation with other known centres for such work, of which Israel would be an acknowledged leader. The engagement referred to may thus have been a matter of mutual benefit rather than support by one side for the other.

State funding to NDRC comes from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Questions as to its operation should be directed to that Department.