Written answers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Business Supports
Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1323. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to report on the achievements of the State-backed National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) programme in supporting early-stage startups; the financial returns realised to date from public investment, referencing successful exits; the details of the way in which those realised funds have been or are planned to be reinvested to accelerate future entrepreneurial activity; the statistics on the number of companies supported, the scale of private follow-on investment attracted, and the regional impact of the programme; and his views on the performance to date and on plans to continue and expand this highly successful innovation model under his Department’s remit. [40926/25]
Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Since its inception, the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) has impacted the Irish economy by advancing early-stage digital enterprises and aiding portfolio companies in raising over €500 million, and more than 700 jobs have been created in the Republic of Ireland by companies accepted into NDRC support under the current contractor's tenure alone.
The NDRC is operated under a commercial contract and since 2020, it has been delivered by Dogpatch Labs, partnering with subcontractors in Kerry (RDI Hub), Cork (Republic of Work) and Galway (PorterShed) to embed trained teams within local ecosystems.
The NDRC has provided: a) Accelerator Programmes; b) Capital investment in Start-ups; c) Regional Services; and d) Portfolio Management, with the NDRC contract sets out the services to be provided as well as the performance targets for those services. The contractor (Dogpatch Labs) has published an Impact Report in 2024 on the NDRC’s performance in supporting companies. The report is available on the NDRC website at .
To further enhance the performance of the NDRC, under the terms of the commercial contract, realised financial returns from successful investments made through the NDRC programme may be reinvested by the contractor (Dogpatch Labs) in line with the strategic objectives of the programme. Initiatives supported to date include enhancements to regional pre-accelerators, dedicated programmes for women and youth entrepreneurship, talent development and co-founder matching and a regions-led AI accelerator.
As to the future of the NDRC, the Programme for Government contains the commitment that Government will support the NDRC and transfer responsibility to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE). In this regard, I understand that DETE and Enterprise Ireland (EI) are currently reviewing policy for incubators and accelerators, and it is envisaged that a successor to the NDRC will be designed as part of this process. Pending the launch of the successor programme(s) by EI, the government recently decided that I may extend the NDRC contract until December 2026.
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