Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If organisations do not get funding, the research does not happen. We have expressed concerns about this, where there are clear, explicit commitments to hierarchies of status within knowledge and so on. I believe the agency will effectively act as a gatekeeper in terms of what we investigate and do not investigate, by virtue of it awarding 75% of the research funding within the State. The amendment is a one-liner to preserve and promote the principle of academic freedom. I do not want to beat the point to death, but the amendment has a place in this Bill.