Dr. Deirdre Lillis:

The Minister's direction in the Bill is a standard provision, as I understand it, across State boards and agencies. I think the protections we can put in place include the use of international peer review where agencies construct panels of international experts to review research proposals against criteria. We have very strong records in IRC and SFI in this. We will work with the drafters of the Bill on this matter in order to come up with language that makes it very clear that a Minister cannot direct an actual funding award.