I propose to take Questions Nos. 285 and 286 together.
Details of direct expenditure provided by agencies of my Department to the private sector to support R&D from 2012-2014 (latest available data) are detailed in the attached Table 1. Supports to foreign-owned companies are provided by IDA Ireland and supports to indigenous companies are provided by Enterprise Ireland (EI), although EI also have a small number of foreign owned companies in their client base.
Other Departments also provide direct support for R&D to the private sector either directly or through agencies under their remit.
The GBARD metric, (Government Budget Appropriations for Research and Development) captures total public sector expenditure on R&D. GBARD figures for 2012 – 2014 are detailed in table 2 below. GBARD includes a mix of support to companies but also support to Higher Education Institutes and academic researchers, much of which research is undertaken in collaboration with industry.
The Research and Development (R&D) tax credit is available to all companies that are undertaking qualifying research and development activities in Ireland or within the European Economic Area. The Department of Finance Review of the R&D Tax Credit 2013 found that the tax credit supports some 70% of business expenditure on R&D. Table 2 outlines the cost to the exchequer of the R&D tax credit for 2012-2013, the latest years for which data is available.
Table 1: Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland support for R&D in the private sector 2012-2014
Research & Development
|
2012 (€)
|
2013 (€)
|
2014 (€)
|
Enterprise Ireland
|
46,901,000 (50.2%)
|
48,996,000 (45.8%)
|
50,057,000 (52.1%)
|
IDA Ireland
|
46,525,000 (49.8%)
|
57,785,000 (54.2%)
|
46,061,000 (47.9%)
|
Total
|
93,426,000
|
106,781,000
|
96,118,000
|
Table 2: GBARD and Cost to Exchequer of R&D Tax Credit 2012-2013
Research & Development
|
2012 (€)
|
2013 (€)
|
2014 (€)
|
GBARD
|
760,000,000 (72.9%)
|
733,000,000 (63.5%)
|
724,000,000
|
R&D Tax Credit
|
281,900,000 (27.1%)
|
421,400,000 (36.5%)
|
not available
|
Total
|
1,041,900,000
|
1,154,400,000
|
|