Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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59. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her attention has been drawn to the decision by University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology to withdraw staffing and funding from the Irish marine and energy research cluster IMERC in Ringaskiddy, County Cork (details supplied); and the future of the research facility, in view of this withdrawal by same. [38530/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the decision by University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology to withdraw staff and funding from the Irish Maritime and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) and to effectively dissolve the tripartite alliance with the Irish Naval Service. However, neither my Department, nor my agencies, were consulted on this decision either in advance of it being announced, or subsequently.

My Department has policy responsibility for the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) and my officials have verified that no funding was paid to IMERC from this programme. The PRTLI Cycle 5 project ERI@MErC (Maritime and Energy Research Campus and Commercial Cluster), also known as the Beaufort Building, is unaffected by this decision.

While the consultants did have brief, informal phone contact with representatives of my agencies during the conduct of the review, neither my department nor my agencies were consulted on the findings or the recommendations either prior to the completion of the report or subsequently.

My department is committed to supporting research and innovation in the marine sector in order to exploit the potential for enterprise development and job creation in the sector.

To this end in 2013 my department, through Science Foundation Ireland, established MaREI, the Marine and Renewable Energy research, development and Innovation Centre. This represents an investment of over €30 million with€18.9 million of SFI funding, combined with over €10.5 million in contributions from the 45 industry partners.

MaREI is located in UCC and the research team comprises internationally recognised experts from UCC, NUIG, UL, MU, UCD, and CIT, who have complementary research backgrounds key to providing the underpinning research necessary for Ireland to develop commercially successful marine and renewable energy industries.

A further demonstration of my department's engagement with the sector is that Enterprise Ireland, in conjunction with the Irish Maritime Development Office, launched the Irish Marine Industry Network in 2016. The marine sector is both diverse and diffuse and the purpose of the Network is to increase the cohesion of the sector, to provide a visible identity and forum to increase collaboration. It will also provide a "one-stop-shop" for showcasing our national capability in the sector.

In addition, following on from the Harnessing our Ocean Wealth strategy, Enterprise Ireland has a current open call for the provision of Marine Incubator facilities. There have been a number of applicants but the outcome from this process is not yet concluded.