Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 October 2022
310. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the specific actions that his Department will take in relation to the iNAP2 plan, to ensure that cross-discipline research is enabled. [53905/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAntimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is recognised as a global threat to health, livelihoods, food security and the achievement of many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The second One Health National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (iNAP2) was developed after stakeholder engagement and one of its five strategic objectives is to promote research and sustainable investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions. Cross-discipline research is an important aspect of research and something that has been encouraged and facilitated by my departments approach to research funding for some time.
Specifically, my Department has recently established an AMR Thematic Network with broad stakeholder representation to guide on future research avenues to explore. The Network composition includes officials from my Department and a variety of representatives from research and academic institutions
Other supports from my Department for cross-discipline research on AMR include international collaboration such as participation in an upcoming Horizon Europe Partnership on AMR which commences in 2023. In 2021, my Department also supported the European Research Area Network (ERANET) Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) for AMR. Four Irish research performing organisation secured over €600,000 in funding and this will facilitate their collaboration with research partners in other countries and in different fields of expertise.
In addition, funding for collaborative AMR research has been provided from a number of research Calls run by my Department. An example of this is the 'AMURAP' project which involves collaboration between Teagasc, the University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine, and DAFM, to study the use of antibiotics in Irish pig and chicken farms and the consequences in the appearance of bacteria resistant to antibiotics in products and the environment.
I am committed to building on these initiatives and further advancing cross-disciplinary research to tackle AMR.
