IRELAND TALKS A good game in international science circles but the rhetoric is not backed up by reality. The ambitious targets set by government in Innovation 2020 will not be met. Indeed they are already ditching them.
During the recent science week I challenged the Taoiseach about why we are only halfway to meeting our pledged commitment of 2.5% GDP spending on research and development. I was dismayed at his reply that it could be better spent on other things. There are many calls on the public purse but this is the government’s own target.
Meeting it would merely bring us into line with other European and advanced nations. It also totally misses the fact that research spending can help us solve societal problems rather than competing with them.
There is much to celebrate about Irish science
There is much to celebrate about Irish science – we have seen this year outstanding achievements such as Dr Peter Gallagher and his team switching on the I-LOFAR telescope in Birr Castle last summer in an internationally renowned feat of engineering and astronomy. I was delighted to support Ireland’s very welcome accession to the European Southern Observatory in the recent budget.
DCU has recently opened one of the first Fraunhofer applied research institutes outside Germany while NUI Maynooth recently celebrated research week and the work of the AIRO mapping centre. Trinity College has ambitious plans for a 5-acre “silicon docks” to form a new technology campus, while UCD has many exciting projects including successful bio-economy and personalised medicine programmes.
The recent MIDAS conference highlighted the criticality of the electronics industry to the Irish economy over the past 40 years. We have plenty of raw talent.
Science funding is close to crisis
However the reality is that Irish science funding is close to crisis, spawned by an emphasis of resources around a few centres and an over concentration on applied/ commercial research at the expense of the basic/ discovery research.
Part of the Taoiseach’s counter-argument to my Dáil question, was that despite a funding shortfall, Ireland ranked “10th in the world” for science impact. That figure is disputed by many, but even taking it at face value, what does impactful means, who defines it and against what other criteria?
Legislation introduced by then Minister Sean Sherlock in 2012 pivoted research funding away from basic research and into more industry focused, applied research projects. While some consolidation was justifiable at a time of recession, and many projects were accordingly assessed with regard to their job creation possibilities, we cannot afford a prolonged period of short-term economic metrics being the primary criteria by which research projects are approved and funded.
This type of frontier, “knowledge for knowledge sake” exploration is critical and must be renewed, not only to excite and retain top talent but also to create a pipeline from which later, more applied, downstream opportunities will grow. The key is to balance both academic, frontier research along with industry focused innovation and to nurture both as equal but opposite ends of a continuum.
Gaps in the sector
Other gaps exist in the sector. The PRTLI – programme for research in third level institutions – has been on hold now for almost two years with little direction or reassurance from government that a long awaited new round of funding will be provided.
This programme provided finance for “bricks and mortar” style projects and was essential in upgrading new laboratories, equipment and libraries. Unfortunately the next round of this funding has not been announced since 2016 and question marks loom as to its future.
Another anomaly here is that this fund should be re-homed to the Department of Education as the primary funding body, rather than sitting under the Department of Business and Enterprise where it currently resides.
While the SFI centres have been hugely successful, it does appear an “all or nothing” culture has emerged, where outside the centres very little alternate funding is available for the wider ecosystem. The budget for the broader based Irish Research Council has fallen well behind, notwithstanding the very welcome but relatively small, new fund under its Laureates programme. Recent university rankings saw Ireland achieve just one university in the top 200.
It is to be welcomed that the government have finally brought the technological universities bill to the Oireachtas, but we see concerns within DIT and the individual colleges, much of which centres on section 38 which defines the criteria, and what level of research initiatives must be taken by each college aspiring to be a university.
Setting the bar too high means few will ever make the leap but setting the bar too low could devalue the university status for all institutes across the island.
Marching for science
I joined numerous academics and dignitaries no less than the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, on the “Science March” earlier this year, to protest at the government’s attitude to the sector and the imperative of evidence based policy and a culture of fact and logical decision making.
The government also joins the Trump White House in having no independent scientific adviser – in another “consolidation” the post was merged into the lead funding agency, again forgivable during the crisis but hard to justify now. A standalone office like an attorney general for science is needed.
All advanced societies recognise research, innovation and the pursuit of knowledge as being fundamental to the success of the economy, the education system and the wider nation.
Stripping back research funding or tying it to short term economic metrics is both shortsighted and damaging.
James Lawless is a TD for North Kildare and is the Fianna Fáil spokesperson for Science, Technology, Research and Development. James studied Maths and Computing at Trinity College (BA, MSc) before studying Law at King’s Inns and qualifying as a Barrister. Elected to the Dáil at his first attempt in 2016, he previously served as a member of Kildare County Council and as Mayor of Naas in 2015.
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