Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

When I was a councillor before I became a Senator, I was quite keen to develop those links between Galway City Council and the University of Galway because there are often times when there is a need for research to inform policy. You can posit a problem and say we have the best researchers in the world at our fingertips so why can we not develop those kinds of relationships. Again, I was on the údarás at the time and we spoke about the university as a place which opens itself out to the city and is not closed off and separate. That is like a microcosm for what could be achieved nationally if we say, as the professor has just said, that here are the problems, social and otherwise, and we ask how we research finding a solution for those. That is a very interesting point.