Dr. John Walsh:

I thank the Chairperson and members for the opportunity to address the joint committee on behalf of IFUT. It is widely acknowledged Ireland has an open, knowledge-based economy that relies extensively on a vibrant research ecosystem. This ecosystem is a critical national asset not only in respect of our economic and social well-being but, as the Covid-19 pandemic illustrated starkly, we also rely on our research infrastructure to address an enormous range of health and societal issues. For example, long-term, blue sky medical research was essential in laying the groundwork for the rapid breakthrough in achieving the Covid vaccines. If the past decade involving the advent of Donald Trump, Brexit and mass campaigns of disinformation has taught us anything, it is that we need evidence-based research more than ever.

More generally, research in political science, history and education have a crucial role to play in understanding societal change and the significant challenges to democratic governance in recent years. We need evidence-based research from a wide range of disciplines that is both broad and deep.

As the Government prepares legislation, that will reconfigure our research funding landscape for generations to come, we wish to express support for the priorities identified by over 2,000 signatories to an open letter to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. The open letter outlined a shared ambition for measures that would bring Ireland in line with best international practice when it comes to research funding in third level education.

The Bill and the creation of a single national research funding agency offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right, not unlike the key decisions made in the 1960s to provide free second level education and in the late 1990s to invest significantly in higher education research for the first time. Equally, the consequences of getting decisions wrong at this stage will be far-reaching not only in failing to support individual researchers but on the research ecosystem and its potential contribution to society and the economy. There is real anxiety and concern about unintended consequences of the Bill among our members. Early career researchers, particularly those on precarious contracts or working in precarious conditions, are particularly vulnerable to any change in research funding practices.

We have a number of concerns about the proposed legislation which have been compounded by a lack of structured consultation so far with a wider group of stakeholders. We wish to acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Harris, recently met a group of researchers, including IFUT members, and indicated an openness to structured consultation on the Bill.

Currently, Ireland is well behind other EU countries in expenditure on research and development; investing only 1.23% of GDP compared with an EU average of 2.32%. This is hardly consistent with Ireland's ambition to be a leader in research and development in the European Union. Therefore, we call on the Minister to allocate additional funding for frontier research and to commit to increasing public funding for research and development, through the new agency, in line with European standards.

As it stands, the heads of Bill are missing some important elements. They include a meaningful definition of research, whereby research must be inclusive of every sector of knowledge and career stage and there must be balance between science, technology, engineering and mathematics and health sciences, as well as arts, humanities, and social sciences. Also missing are the principles of parity of esteem between disciplines and areas and of academic freedom. We seek strong, accountable and independent governance arrangements, including a meaningful and transparent system of selection of the members of the body overseeing the agency and that the majority of members of the board should be involved in research at various levels. Another key element is to achieve European standards of good practice that support appropriate governance in research and the fair allocation of funding. Last but not least, there should be a commitment to fund research at a level equal to or greater than the EU average based on percentage of GDP, including a commitment to allocate at least 70% of the total budget available to frontiers or basic research or both, and for sustained and ongoing investment in the full cost of research.

A wide-ranging group of researchers, who reflect a range of institutions, have proposed a number of amendments to the legislation that are supported by IFUT. Those are detailed in our submission and I will not going into them here except to say that we would advocate, as a priority, that the principle of academic freedom be included in head 8 as a separate item and that we seek the inclusion of a commitment to parity of esteem and support for equality, diversity and inclusion in research and innovation in head 9.

An inclusive governance structure is crucial. The board of the new research agency should include a majority of active researchers from a diversity of backgrounds, levels and disciplines, including early career and postdoctoral researchers. Academic input in framing the Bill should be sought through a structured consultation process. The expertise of researchers engaged in vital work on a day-to-day basis should not be neglected.

To conclude, we wish to acknowledge that the Bill is well intentioned but requires significant changes from the heads, as published. We do not undervalue the contribution of research to a competitive economy but the value of research cannot be defined in purely monetary terms. The Bill should guarantee a broad based and holistic understanding of research underpinned by a representative and collegial governance structure.