Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of funding his Department contributes to medicines research and development annually; the budget holders, for example, the Irish Research Council, responsible to his Department; the extent of its funding allocations for medicines research and development; the principles which guide this funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41884/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Competitive research funding available from my Department is managed by the Irish Research Council. It has a broad remit to support and enhance human capital development, in particular at postgraduate and early stage postdoctoral levels. The Council -

- funds excellent research within, and between, all disciplines, and in doing so to enhance Ireland’s international reputation as a centre for research and learning

- supports the education and skills development of excellent individual early-stage researchers and cultivates agile independent researchers and thinkers, while offering a range of opportunities which support diverse career paths

- enriches the pool of knowledge and expertise available for addressing Ireland’s current and future needs, whether societal, cultural or economic and deliver for citizens through collaboration and enabling knowledge exchange with government departments and agencies, enterprise and civic society

The Council does not operate quotas for individual disciplines. Funding is awarded based on excellence, which is determined on the basis of independent peer review in an open, objective and transparent manner. Therefore, funding for medicines research would vary each year depending on standard of proposals.

The Council also operates funding schemes under which non-academic bodies participate in research projects. Under some of these schemes, the partner organisations make financial contributions towards the award (Enterprise Partnerships Scheme and the Employment Based Programme). No disciplinary prioritisation applies under these schemes, and awards are based on excellence.

I am arranging for information on such research to be collated by the Council and I will forward this to the Deputy.