Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know the Chair is trying to hurry us along. However, to make one point on that, Dr. Morrissey lives and breathes this stuff and understands it better than I ever will. A concern has been raised with me by numerous scientists independently of each other over the past few years. Dr. Morrissey's answer is frank; it is the most frank answer I have had and I thank him for it. The concern they are raising is that we have to have a pipeline the whole time. There is this balance in a technology-readiness pipeline, and there are all these different ways of looking at it. Numerous scientists have informed me over the years that because of this shift away from basic research, we are starving the pipeline for the future. We can still live on development and innovation from basic research done 20 or 30 years ago but, ultimately, it is going to catch up with us.