Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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553. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to provide for another five year cycle of the PRTLI for the period 2017 to 2021. [36091/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) was launched in 1998, with five cycles of expenditure to date. The PRTLI supports the provision of top-class research infrastructure (buildings, laboratories and cutting edge equipment) as well as human capital development, through Structured PhD/Emergent Technology programmes across Ireland’s Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).

The Programme is designed to facilitate Ireland’s HEIs to produce world class research in key strategic areas: including but not limited to bioscience/biomedical; medical technologies; energy, environment and marine; food and drink; social sciences and humanities; ICT and advanced communications; and platform technologies and materials.

The planning and design of a successor to Cycle 5 of PRTLI is a commitment in Innovation 2020 and is being progressed by my Department working closely with the Department of Education and Skills. Plans for a new Cycle are at an early stage and consultation with key stakeholders will take place in due course.