Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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124. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports that his Department provides for research for new antibiotics; his views on whether this is sufficient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51005/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenge of our time, affecting people, animals and the environment. The concept of One Health has been developed to tackle AMR globally, based on the WHO Global Action Plan on AMR and the European One Health Action Plan against AMR. It advocates a multi-sectoral, whole of society response to AMR. In this context, the Departments of Health and of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have jointly published the Second One Health National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2021-2025. Strategic Objective 5 of this plan will promote research and sustainable investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions.

A high-performing health service requires health research and innovation being embedded in service delivery, and clinicians and other health professionals being supported to undertake and utilise research. Earlier this year I launched Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy, which commits to putting research and innovation (R&I) at the heart of addressing Ireland’s social, economic and environmental challenges.

My department provides resources for research through recurrent grant funding allocated to the higher education institutions via a grant to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the Higher Education Institutions. It should be noted that as autonomous bodies, the internal disbursement of the HEA grant funding, including how much is allocated to individual areas including antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance research, is the remit and responsibility of each individual institution.

In addition, competitive research funding is allocated through calls managed by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). These funding programmes are available to researchers working the area of antibiotic development, subject to programme specific eligibility criteria.

The IRC is currently supporting a University of Galway researcher working on antimicrobial agents under the Laureate award programme, and 21 researchers under its early-career programmes concerned with this area, namely the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme, the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme, the Enterprise Partnership Scheme and the Employment-Based Postgraduate Programme.

The vast majority of SFI funding programmes do not run on a thematic basis – i.e., they are open to researchers from all disciplines operating within SFI’s legal remit. Examples of researchers that are availing of SFI supports to advance the area of antibiotic development include:

- Prof Martin Caffrey at TCD is investigating new approaches to antibiotic design through a SFI Investigator Programme award which will generate new knowledge and intellectual property in the form of tools, reagents and lead compounds for commercial exploitation.

- Prof Siobhan McClean and her team at UCD is using cystic fibrosis infections as models to understand how bacteria change to become chronic infections and how low-oxygen levels drive this process. Identifying these common routes of adaptation will help us stop this evolution and represent a target for development of new therapies for chronic infections.

Research into AMR is central to the development of future therapies. Many SFI funded teams are working in this area. APC Microbiome Ireland SFI Research Centre is conducting significant work in the area of the development of new natural antimicrobials (such as bacteriocins and bacteriophages) being important in the fight against AMR. A project with Janssen is particularly relevant - Bacteriophage have been shown to have tremendous promise as narrow spectrum antimicrobial agents that can replace or augment our current arsenal of antibiotics. A significant benefit of their narrow spectrum is that they will not generate resistance in non-target species, nor will they cause collateral damage to the human (or environmental) microbiome. This research aims to develop bacteriophage applications for the diagnosis or treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

APC also focuses on AMR as part of their Education and Public Engagement Programme. For instance, work they have done on nationwide professional development for teachers with JCT STE(A)M. To support secondary school teachers, APC invested significant time-resources to develop and deliver workshops in partnership with the Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) programme, JCT STEAM. The objectives of JCT STEAM align closely with those of the APC’s EPE programme – it aims to provide teachers with rich professional learning experiences that focus on equipping teachers and students with skills and knowledge needed to address global societal challenges. The workshops, which place a large emphasis on interdisciplinarity, are open to all teachers, not just those teaching STEM subjects. APC co-developed a workshop on the topic of Antimicrobial Resistance, with colleagues in the School of Pharmacy at UCC, to connect microbiome research with the SDGs in a classroom-ready format.

SSPC, SFI Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals is also active in this space. Prof Martin Clynes is leading a project to develop new antimicrobial therapies. The project aims to will identify novel antimicrobial agents with modes of action distinct to those of existing agents and evaluate these for clinical use.

As part of the Impact 2030, my department has established strong governance and oversight structures to deliver its vision and ambition. The Impact 2030 Steering Group and Impact 2030 Implementation Forum bring together research funding departments and agencies to ensure that we deliver not only on Impact 2030but that R&I makes a significant impact on key national and sectoral priorities, including maximising research and innovation contribution to sustaining and furthering the health and wellbeing of the people of Ireland.

Through these avenues the national R&I system will work together to address the many challenges outlined in Impact 2030, including the health and wellbeing of the Irish people.