Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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246. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will provide as a percentage of GDP the amount the Government expended on research on an annual basis over the 2010 to 2016 period in tabular form. [26419/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Government Budget Allocations for Research and Development (GBARD) measures all the funding allocated by the Government to research and development to be performed in all sectors of the economy. e.g. within the higher education sector, by businesses or by Government agencies.

GBARD includes:

- Government funding for R&D programmes in the higher education sector administered by the Department for Education and Skills, the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and others;

- Government funding for business sector R&D, administered through State agencies including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and others;

- Government funding for R&D performed in the public sector e.g. Teagasc, the Marine Institute and others;

- Also included are Government contributions to international R&D programmes or organisations solely or mainly concerned with R and D.

The marked decrease in GBARD as a percentage of GDP in 2015 and 2016 is in part due to strong growth in GDP in 2015.  

The Government Expenditure on Research and Development (GOVERD) measures all the R&D carried out directly by Government Departments and State Agencies.