Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, lines 6 and 7, to delete “opportunity for the State” and substitute the following:
“scientific endeavour that concerns the future development and competitiveness of industry and enterprise in the State”.

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. We should acknowledge the considerable success of Science Foundation Ireland since its inception.

I know this Minister of State is personally committed to it but we must ensure that science remains a core function of Science Foundation Ireland, SFI. The purpose of amendment No. 1 to section 4 is to restore the definition as contained in the existing Act. I am not sure why we need to move to a weaker definition which indicates that Science Foundation Ireland would cover areas of opportunity. "Science" should be included in some sort of legislative definition for a body known as Science Foundation Ireland and the existing definition sums ups the body's role in a very concise way with good guidance. Throughout the legislation there is potential for future Ministers to weaken the really important science role in particular. I have proposed these amendments in response to that.