Written answers
Tuesday, 22 June 2021
Department of Education and Skills
Research and Development
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
467. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of full-time equivalent persons engaged in research and development each year since 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33202/21]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
It is estimated that there were a total of 32,727 full-time equivalents persons working in R&D across all the sectors of the economy in 2020. This figure is made up of the R&D personnel in the Business, Higher Education and Government sectors as outlined in the table below.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 (est) | 2020 (est) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Sector | 17,821 | 18,383 | 18,203 | 19,542 | 18,956 | 19,733 | 20,322 |
| Higher Education Sector | 14,847 | 15,012 | 15,178 | 13,211 | 11,243 | 11,243 | 11,243 |
| Government Sector | 826 | 951 | 993 | 1,051 | 1,196 | 1,194 | 1,162 |
| Total FTE R&D Personnel | 33,494 | 34,346 | 34,374 | 33,803 | 31,396 | 32,170 | 32,727 |
The figures for the business sector come from the biennial survey on Business Expenditure on Research and Development (BERD) which is produced by the CSO. The 2019-2020 BERD survey was published in March this year and the figures for 2020 are an estimate.
The figures for the higher education sector are taken from the biennial survey on Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) and my Department is responsible for this survey. The latest HERD survey covers the academic year 2018-2019 so the figures for 2019 and 2020 are estimates. There was a break in the series after 2016 following a revision of the methodology for HERD personnel which now classifies research staff more accurately. The next HERD survey covering 2020-2021 will be undertaken in Q1 2022 and its publication is expected in Q4 2022.
The figures for the government sector come from the annual survey on the Research and Development Budget (R&D Budget) which is also under the remit of my Department. Figures for 2020 are estimated as this year’s survey is currently in the field and I expect its publication in Q4 this year.
The table above is published in the annual R&D Budget Survey which is available on gov.ie. The latest iteration is available on
All these surveys are carried out using the definitions, rules and guidelines set out in the OECD’s Frascati Manual. This allows for a common dataset to be collected across all OECD and EU countries and facilitates international comparisons and benchmarking.
No comments