Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank the witnesses and we are honoured to have them because they have such a deep knowledge of research. It is important that it is not only the organisations that are coming before us, but that the people who have been working in the area for a long time are also coming before us. With legislation, there is a temptation to put everything in and therefore all kinds of suggestions come to us, regardless of the Bill. People ask us to focus on this word or that word. It would be great to hear what the witnesses think about that area and whether a maximal or minimal approach should be taken in order to get where we need to be because we do not know where Ireland or the globe will be. We need only look at the pandemic, climate collapse and so many other areas to see that we do not know what we will need to know in 20, 30, 40 or 50 years. I have a fear about putting specifically into the Bill who should be added to the board and who the stakeholders are. We need to ensure it is broad enough so that everybody is included and the most important people are included. I would like the witnesses' thoughts on that.

As I mentioned earlier, everybody is on board and agrees that this is the right thing to do. I hear that regardless of who I speak to, including organisations and individuals. We have to build in that confidence so that everybody feels their discipline is included in the legislation. As Professor Kelly-Holmes said, that parity of esteem is important but the words "parity of esteem" are not a proper legal definition. How do we ensure parity of esteem is in the legislation without having those words so that everybody's research is respected?

I mentioned the following point earlier and Professor Livesey and I spoke about it this week. How can we ensure that we are getting researchers into other bodies outside of this research body? Particularly in climate, when it comes to the SEAI and the EPA we cannot just have separate research going on so how will it all be joined together? Is there a role in this legislation for pulling that all in and tying it all together?