Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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307. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding allocated from his Department to the programme for research in third level institutions in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018; the estimated amount of matching funding from either private sector sources or other State or EU sources the funding has attracted since 2012 and specifically, in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017. [34334/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation is responsible for the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI). I understand that its subhead provision for the PRTLI in 2016 was €30.4m and in 2017 it is €14.4m.

The total Exchequer and non-Exchequer funding for Cycle 5 of the PRTLI was approved at the outset of the programme in December 2010, and amounted to €348m. This comprised Exchequer funding of €288m and non-Exchequer funding of €60m. The non exchequer funding was not allocated on an annual basis. Further details on the PRTLI are available from the Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation.

The Department's recurrent allocation to the higher education institutions in 2017 is nearly €1 billion, which is allocated to the institutions by the Higher Education Authority. These institutions are autonomous bodies and the internal allocation of this income, along with any private funding that they raise (including funding directed towards their research activities), is a matter for the institutions.