Sherlock Visits European Parliament For Talks On Irish Presidency Of EU

The Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD, was in Brussels, where he held a series of consultations with members of the European Parliament to discuss the European Union's research and innovation agenda during Ireland's EU Presidency in the first half of 2013.

Minister Sherlock, who will Chair meetings of the Competitiveness Council on research and innovation issues, said he wanted to hear initial reactions from the Parliament to key legislative proposals on which the Council and Parliament share mutual interests and decision-making responsibilities on behalf of Europe's citizens.

Ireland has a very strong interest in developments at European level in relation to research and innovation. The Irish EU Presidency will come at a critical time in the finalisation of proposals for Europe’s €80 billion of EU funding for research and innovation covering 2014-2020. "Our job as EU Presidency will be to progress the completion of these proposals on behalf of the European Union. I very much look forward to working with the European Parliament on this", said Minister Sherlock.

"The EU research agenda continues to complement our national priorities with an emphasis on moving new discoveries from the research stage to the marketplace", the Minister added. The Minister also pointed out that "Ireland has been particularly concerned in the negotiations to date to see greater emphasis placed on participation by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the next EU programme for funding research and innovation. We have made progress on this and a higher target for SME participation has been agreed by the European Council. I was very pleased to hear that this is an objective shared in the European Parliament."

(CD/GK)