Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department funds research on Motor Neuron Disease (MND/ALS) through the Health Research Board (HRB). The HRB is the largest funder of health research in the state and, in the past ten years, has funded research on MND/ALSO to a value of almost €10.9m. Of this, €3.2 million was leveraged from non-exchequer sources in Ireland and elsewhere, such as the charity sector (Research Motor Neuron - €243k), through our Health Research Charities Ireland joint funding scheme and co-funding with European partners of the Joint Programme in Neurodegenerative Diseases (JPND) (co-funding of €5.55 million).

Projects funded in MND/ALS have spanned most broad research areas and a number of clinical or academic domains. Over half of the funding in MND/ALS was for neuroscience and clinical neurology research, seeking to understand the nature of the disease, understand risk factors in the Irish population, develop diagnostic tools and identify possible therapeutic targets. The balance of the research activity has/is focusing on understanding the experience of MND/ALS, the healthcare and health service needs of patients with MND/ALS and their caregivers, and how best to address these.

In addition to research specific on MND/ALS, over the past 10 years the HRB has invested almost €18 million in understanding the underlying mechanisms and aetiology of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation more generally (which is of course relevant to MND/ALS), and co-funding of a JPND project looking at development of a European eHealth care model for rare neurodegenerative diseases.