Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital Transformation and Company Regulation Dara Calleary has called for the decision to close the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) accelerator programme to be reversed and has committed to funding it if re-elected to government.
Minister Calleary said: "The decision to close the NDRC is a mistake.
"It has played a vital role in the Irish startup ecosystem, especially over the last four years in driving the creation of high-impact indigenous Irish startups.
"The creation and support of Irish businesses around the country must be a priority for any government and the NDRC has had a hugely important regional element in particular, in Galway, Kerry and Cork.
"If Fianna Fáil are returned to Government, I will seek funding for the NDRC to be continued in a Programme for Government."
Continuing, Minister Calleary said that in any Programme for Government a challenge to be overcome is the amount of Departments that have responsibility for digital policies.
He said: “One of the challenges we have is that a number of departments have responsibility for digital policies.
"For example, the Department of Enterprise covers digital transformation for businesses and work in the area of AI, while the funding for the NDRC itself comes from the Department of Communications.
"In any Programme for Government we have to look at rationalising the amount of departments and ensuring there are clear lines of responsibility in the area of digital policies to make sure that we have a more effective response.
“I would like to bring the NDRC under the Department of Enterprise and get the appropriate funding line in place for it."
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