Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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302. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount allocated to the programme for research in third level institutions in 2018. [53685/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The 2018 allocation to the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) is €14.3m. A portion of the 2018 PRTLI allocation for 2018 will be used to part pay outstanding bills for PRTLI Cycle 5 projects. There were 33 projects funded in Cycle 5, with the final two completed in mid-2017.

 The PRTLI funding allocation also funds vital shared infrastructure, essential to the third level research sector. This includes part payment of an annual subscription to e-Journals.  E-Journals funding provides Irish based scientists online access to a wide range of leading international scientific journals and is a necessary tool to enable them to conduct their own research. E-Journals in the STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths) area formed part of the transfer of functions between this Department and the Department of Education & Skills (DES), as decided by Government order in May 2010.

In addition, a portion of the 2018 PRTLI allocation will be used to commence a postgraduate programme funding both PhDs and Research Masters, as per the action in Innovation 2020 to increase postgraduate researcher enrolments, in disciplines aligned to enterprise and national needs.

This new postgraduate programme will be administered by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and will fund postgraduate researcher enrolments in disciplines under their remit. Further details will be provided by SFI over the coming months.