Professor Willie Donnelly:

I will make an important point the three of us probably agree on. Ireland is now a rich country. We have seen the windfall due and we are trying to work out how to use it. We need to change our mindset, especially in research. I think we have all experienced the mindset of only investing in winners in a very narrow scope into the area of capacity-building. We have superb academics, superb young researchers and a superb community and they want to contribute to society. Sometimes we go down to an argument about funding this area because it is more important than another area. What has to be at the heart of this new funding agency is the idea of inclusivity, of building national intellectual capacity and of creating a cohort of graduates and researchers who are contributing in a broad sense to society. That is a change of mindset and would require a commitment from Government to make enough money available such that we do not go back to arguments between areas about which should get funding on the basis of importance. Capacity-building must be at the heart of what this new agency is about, as well as investment to build that capacity. That is what will drive the future of society and sustain our society.