Theresa Ahearn
Ceist:12 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Energy the number and value of projects with an Irish involvement which have been approved for support under the EC Joule Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Involvement Projects EC Funding.
Twenty one projects with an Irish involvement were accepted for support in the 1989-92 round of the Joule Programme.
As final contracts are currently being negotiated between the EC Commission and the applicants it is not possible to make an estimate of their value at this stage.
Irish funded projects, with the technical assistance of Eolas, have over the years enjoyed a good success rate under EC schemes. I am confident that this trend can continue.
How many Irish institutions actually tendered for research contracts and were unsuccessful?
The projects involved co-operation between participants in two or more member states, that is a requirement. The main proposals for 11 of the successful projects were Irish, the remaining ten had Irish participants. An area of particular success for Irish projects included renewable energies, principally passive solar at UCD, active solar at UCC and hydrocarbons exploration at TCD. University colleges are likely to be the successful candidates in the main in this connection.
In view of the State's own dramatic cutbacks in the area of research and development in the energy sphere has the Minister plans to build on the initiatives that are being taken outside of his own agencies so that we would restore an Irish programme for more efficient energy use in Ireland?
The Deputy is expanding on the scope of the question.
As the Deputy is aware the State's resources are not unlimited and are fairly scarce. We have a Minister of State with responsibility for Science and Technology and excellent work is being done in that area. Due to our membership of the European Community we have the opportunity to avail of the many different schemes which fund research programmes. Ireland has been very active in that area and I think that is a good policy for the Government to follow.