Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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373. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position of Ireland in the EU rankings on total public expenditure on research and development based on latest data at hand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11038/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Government allocated $915.7m (adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)) on research and development (R&D) in 2015, or $197 (PPP) on a per-capita basis in 2015 on R&D, compared with $246 (PPP) per capita on average in EU28 countries and $276 (PPP) per capita on average for all OECD countries.  Ireland's per-capita Government allocations on R&D equate to approximately 80% of those of other EU28 countries and 71% of OECD countries. This expenditure level places Ireland in 15th place out of 23 EU Member States for which data are available in 2015, between Estonia (14th) and Spain (16th).

The Government's budget for research and development increased by 1.3% in 2015 over the previous year to €736m and is estimated to have increased again in 2016 by 3.2% with allocated funding of €761m. Innovation 2020, Ireland's cross-governmental strategy for Research and Development, Science and Technology, commits all Government Departments to increase overall levels of investment in the area of research, year on year, to 2020.

Innovation 2020 is based on a shared vision of Ireland becoming a Global Innovation Leader, driving a strong, sustainable, high employment economy and a better society. This strategy, led by my Department, sets out a roadmap to deliver on our vision and focuses on the excellence of our research, the development of our talent and the impact of our investment. Continued implementation of Innovation 2020 will enable us to further narrow the gap with the world’s most innovative countries and drive our objective of becoming a global innovation leader.

Total Government Budget Allocations for Research & Development  (GBARD)

These figures relate to total Government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD).  Included is funding for research in the higher education sector (administered by the Higher Education Authority, Science Foundation Ireland, etc.), the business sector (administered by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, etc.) and carried out in Government Agencies (e.g. Teagasc, the Marine Institute).