Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2025
151. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide an update on the Department’s plan to recruit US researchers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37585/25]
View answerOn 13 May, the Government approved my proposal to establish the Global Talent Initiative, a programme to attract international research talent to Ireland. Research Ireland is now finalising the details of the call for applications, and I expect that I will be in a position to launch the programme very shortly.
Initial planning is focused on attracting approximately 45 researchers in the forthcoming three year period, consisting of both early career high potential researchers as well as established researchers.
The initiative will have a preliminary budget of €8 million per annum, with scoping for additional funding to be sought as it scales up in light of an assessment of the effectiveness of the programme.
In addition to salary, various additional costs are expected to arise. These would include for example, the wider research team that would be associated with a particular individual, laboratory space, research equipment, administrative overheads, infrastructure and other ancillary costs.
I look forward to being able to provide further information on this new programme in the near future.
