James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Professor Clinch and I wish him well in his new position. We are not here to interview him as such but rather to engage, if we could. I am interested in the productivity gap in some countries that Professor Clinch mentioned. Will he expand on what exactly this means? I am delighted that Professor Clinch is very interested in improving research and the pool of talent we have. What does he feels the role of Science Foundation Ireland would be in encouraging more people to take up STEM subjects? We have the challenge that many people have shied away from them. We have many bright young people. We have one of the youngest populations in Europe. My constituency certainly has the youngest population in Ireland and perhaps in Europe. Encouraging girls in particular to go into the area of research is critical to expand the pool and get the best minds to address the issues of the day. Since I was Minister for Health, I have been struck by the fact we have some of the best doctors in the world, the best universities in the world, the biggest pharmaceutical and IT companies in the world and the top ten medical devices companies in the world. If synergies between them could be brought together they would surely yield tremendous results for us. There is also the challenge that is always there of translating research into jobs.