Ms Ann Riordan:

I thank the joint committee for the invitation to attend the meeting. I have been asked by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, to serve as chairman of Science Foundation Ireland, a role in which I would be honoured to serve. In the first instance, I will provide a brief overview of my business background, share my initial impressions of Science Foundation Ireland and outline my personal objectives in the first three months of my term. Apropos the above I will welcome any question members may wish to ask.

My career began many years ago with the Alliance and Dublin Consumers Gas Company. Some of those present will not remember the era of the marriage bar during which I was required to leave my job when I got married in 1970. When my daughter, Lisa, was two years old and my son, John, six weeks old, I discovered that I had to assume the role of family breadwinner. I moved with the family to London, as I had no option but to emigrate to find employment to support them.

My career in the IT industry started with Wordplex in London. The IT industry was in its infancy when I found employment with a start-up company, Wordplex Information Systems, a word processing company. No one here will remember that before word processing it was a world of typewriters. After some years working in London, the company was developed into a PLC and I returned to Ireland as managing director of Wordplex Ireland. In 1990 I was approached by Microsoft to set up Microsoft Ireland. Microsoft was an unknown name at the time and had two customers in Ireland. As a result, on Bill Gate’s first visit to Ireland I had to go out into the highways and byways to find an audience to whom he could present the company’s vision and strategy. The rest is history. In 1996 I was most fortunate to be presented by Bill Gates with the chairman’s award for excellence as top contributor in Europe. Having built the business and the brand successfully in Ireland, I retired from Microsoft in 2001. I served on the information society steering committee and the science, technology and innovation advisory council. In the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, I was appointed vice chairman of Tourism Ireland in 2000. It was start-up company, with a remit to market the island of Ireland internationally. After serving for seven years, I was reappointed to the board and served as chairman for the remaining two years of my term.

While still at Microsoft, I was appointed by the then Taoiseach to the board of MIT MediaLab Europe, a new, independent university level research and education centre specialising in telecommunications and information and multimedia technologies, including Internet and digital commerce. The Government provided MLE with seed funding and accommodation in the Guinness Hop Store. The balance of the required funding was to be raised by MIT and MLE from research contracts, industry sponsorships and private contributions. However, this was in the period of the dotcom crash and a dramatic reduction in research by industry had a severe impact on MLE's ability to reach a critical mass of sponsorship. The collaboration agreement between MIT and the Government was terminated in 2005. I served on the board until 2005.

During my tenure with Microsoft there was a serious dearth of skills in the IT sector which was impeding growth for Microsoft in Ireland. To overcome this shortfall, I instigated a programme with the Ballymun jobs centre to train long-term unemployed persons to qualify as Microsoft-certified professionals. The 25 participants all qualified and found full-time employment. When other multinationals in Ireland heard about the success of the initiative, they overwhelmingly supported the programme which resulted in an industry-wide training initiative, FIT - Fast Track to IT. To date, over 12,000 long-term unemployed persons have been trained in the FIT partners technology, with over 80% securing full-time employment. At the European Council meeting in Lisbon in March 2000 the then Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, cited FIT as a model for corporate social responsibility.

As a result, many organisations across Europe, as well as further afield in Canada, emulated the program in their respective countries. I served on the board of FIT from 1998 to 2009.

Earlier this year my term at the National Standards Authority of Ireland expired. I served on the board of that organisation for five years before my appointment as chairman in 2007, a position I held until this year. Rather than listing the authority's achievements, I refer to the reference to it in The House Always Wins by Deputy John McGuinness:

The NSAI is an example of how a State agency should be run. It applies the highest standards to itself in developing standards for others and actually operates at a profit to the Exchequer.

Other roles I have filled include that of public interest director on the board of the Educational Building Society and chairman of the Dublin Regional Tourism Authority from 2007. After serving on the council of the Institute of Directors in Ireland for six years, I was elected president of that organisation in 2009. During my time as president I instigated the development of a code for the independent assessment of companies' compliance with existing codes on corporate governance, including the recruitment and selection of the consultative committee that developed the code. That code, known as SWiFT 3000, was launched in March 2010 and I will refer to it again towards the end of my contribution.

I was delighted to receive a telephone call from the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, regarding the post at Science Foundation Ireland. Since then I have had the opportunity to meet the director general of SFI, Professor Mark Ferguson, and the chief operations officer and secretary to the board, Mr Donal Keane, who is here with me today. Both of them have given me a comprehensive briefing on the operations and goals of SFI.

Earlier this year, SFI published a document called Agenda 2020 which sets out its vision of Ireland as a global knowledge leader which places scientific and engineering research at the core of its society in order to power economic development and social progress. Its strategic plan for realising this vision was subject to a consultation process with key stakeholders and the public, with 59 written submissions received and 65 people attending the public consultation meeting. The plan, based on four primary objectives, is ambitious and not for the faint-hearted . I look forward to working with the board and the executive as we strive to achieve those goals. The key performance indicators for each year of the plan are unambiguous and measurable, which will help the board to track performance and ensure the strategic goals are delivered in line with the plan and the vision for the organisation. I am particularly excited about the role SFI can play in enabling Ireland to gain international global advantage in the areas of biotechnology and ICT. As an early evangelist of the economic benefits that knowledge-based industries can contribute to this country's prosperity, I am committed to working with the board, the executive and the Government to realise SFI's vision.

It would be presumptuous of me to assume, at this early stage, definitively to identify areas that require particular focus. I am impressed by the enthusiasm for the implementation of the strategic plan, the professionalism of those I have met in SFI and the openness and transparency that exists in the organisation. The expertise and experience of the members of the board are impressive, and I am convinced their attributes, along with my broad experience, will assist, support and challenge the executive in its efforts to ensure SFI is the best science-funding agency in the world and an exemplar among building partnerships which fund excellent science. Our aim is to have an engaged and scientifically informed public, with SFI representing the ideal modern service organisation in line with its primary objectives.

My personal objectives for the first three months are to work with the board, the director general and company secretary on a number of specific issues. I intend to agree a schedule and format for board meetings that will facilitate discussion, ensure decisions are kept at strategic level and that sufficient and appropriate information is provided to the board to meet its fiduciary duties. I am seeking to achieve SWiFT 3000 certification through independent assessment of SFI's corporate governance performance and compliance to the highest standards of corporate governance codes and ethics. I hope to explore areas of focus for applied research and develop a funding model in accordance with the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) (Amendment) Act 2013. I intend to ensure that the 2014 annual plan, key performance indicators and budget are approved by the board in a timely manner. I will assist the director general to secure the appointment of a director for programmes, enterprise and international affairs, one of the key positions required by the organisation in order effectively to manage its core function. Finally, I will familiarise myself with the overall public funding of research in Ireland, in an effort to understand SFI's role within that context.

I again thank the Vice Chairman for the invitation to appear before the committee today. I will be pleased to take any questions.