Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. We had a number of conflicting sessions this morning, particularly in the Seanad, so I did not have the opportunity to listen to the opening statements, although I did have the opportunity to go through the statements. It is good to see Ms Dolan again and I wish her continued success.

Given the area we are looking at, it was very helpful for the committee to have had the opportunity to visit some of our technological universities recently. In particular, when I was in the Chair's hometown of Waterford, in South East Technological University, we had a very good debate in regard to the whole area of research and how universities can attract the best people, and also attract good funding, which is obviously very important.

About six years ago, before Brexit happened, this committee did a paper and some research in regard to the possibilities and potentials, and challenges and disadvantages, that Brexit would bring in terms of trying to attract research funding. At the time, 70% of all research projects that Irish universities were doing were with a partner in England. If the witnesses have any views in regard to that impact, it would be helpful.

I do not want to go over what my colleagues have said. I know one of the areas that the witnesses were clear about in their opening statements was the issue regarding the definition of terms throughout the heads of the Bill. It is important that we get this right. If the witnesses have already responded to that, do not worry about it because I can look back through the proceedings.

On a question to Ms Dolan, I am interested to know if data are available showcasing the percentage of researchers from minority backgrounds. I think that is something we need to be clear about in terms of trying to facilitate equality of opportunity.

In general, I would like to know about current issues in regard to the recruitment and retention of researchers right across the board, and how that impacts both the performance of our third level institutions and the global university rankings.