Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I will come in with my own questions. This is very exciting. We are now looking at a research and innovation Ireland agency. It is a brand new agency that will be world class. It will be competing across the world in terms of research. I am excited to see it.

There is also a new Higher Education Authority Act. There has been a lot of change, including the establishment of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. A lot is happening in Ireland in this space. Everyone across the world is watching what is happening here. We have been punching above our weight for a while in many areas of research. I find this particularly exciting.

I come from Professor Carey's University of Galway. I am an arts graduate and studied history and French. I previously worked in Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland. I have also worked on many different projects as a contract researcher in Galway. I worked on Horizon 2020 projects, work which was not funded by the Exchequer.

There is a lot of opportunity here. It is exciting that this Bill will bring the Irish Research Council, IRC, onto a statutory basis. Until now, it has sat within the Higher Education Authority, HEA, but it will become a part of the new agency, research and innovation Ireland. We are no longer going to be referring to our previous agencies. We have seen this across a number of different State agencies over time. Agencies have been amalgamated and so on, depending on the needs of the nation. The population of Ireland is at its highest level ever. It has the lowest unemployment rate it has ever had. It is incredible to see how our country has fared. When I went to school, I learned about people emigrating. I was learning about people leaving our country. It is incredible that so many people now want to live and work in our country, and that there are opportunities for them to do so. That is thanks to our education system, particularly our further and higher education system.

Some of my questions relate to topics that have been raised by my colleagues. I also want to focus more on the innovation side. I welcome the breadth of activity this new agency is going to cover. As an arts graduate, I see the power of the social sciences and humanities. Research and innovation Ireland will give a real focus to funding. It will join up the excellence we have across all of these agencies, which is important.

I will direct my questions about the board to Dr. Lillis, Professor Nolan and anyone else who would like to come in. The power of the board in an international sphere is Ireland's world-class reputation. We compete internationally. The National Science Foundation, NSF, the National Institutes of Health, NIH, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, have boards. I was always under the impression that there was more of an international element to the make-up of those boards although researchers were also members. I am curious about the importance of that. Professors Nolan and Carey might like to come in on that point. Our reputation is crucial because we attract so many international principal investigators, PIs, to bring their research teams to Ireland, to base themselves here and conduct research.