Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputies Donohoe and Twomey.

I thank the Minister for introducing this Bill. It is important in the context of the promotion of scientific development and scientific endeavours but it is also important in the context of the wider economy. While economic advantages brought about by scientific exploration are good, we should be careful not to reduce such an important endeavour to a simple revenue raising pursuit. Ireland will not do so because we have a proud history in scientific exploration. I refer to the unfortunate earthquake in Iran and Pakistan. My former employment was in the test ban treaty organisation in Vienna. An Irishman, Robert Mallet, is known as the father of seismology and he is often quoted as one of our great scientists who helped pave the way in this important area of basic research which was then applied after that.

There have been changes in the teaching curriculum and in how we use technology to understand the world around us. We continue to keep science at the forefront in Ireland. The city of science initiative in Dublin was positive, as are the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin, which attracts many visitors each year and which has fantastic exhibitions, and the annual Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and the great excitement it generates. Other countries are learning from us promoting scientific exploration and inquisitive minds at an early age. It is important to be conscious of that and to make sure we are funding this as well as basic and applied research.

Legislation such as this has a crucial role in the strategic planning of how we invest and develop our resources in this area. Section 4 contains the meat of the Bill. A few key and important changes will be implemented. The first is the extension of SFI's remit to fund applied research, which is a welcome development. We cannot only be purists and talk about discovery for discovery's sake, although it is important. We have to think of the benefits that the commercialisation of our research or the transfer of that research to the market might have either for people in a social enterprise context or in a commercial or job creation context for the country. That must be borne in mind but I add one word of caution. We do not want to start down the road where funding of research is dependent on a proven or expected application outside the laboratory or foreseeing an application that might be developed and for which there might be a commercial response. We are doing good work in basic research and we are well ahead of the US and other competitors in this area. We must keep on funding that because we do not know what will come of it. There have been important unintended scientific discoveries from basic research in history. People often cite the discovery of penicillin and the development of breakfast cereals, which are important for children. Velcro rubber also emerged from basic research and it is important to bear funding for that in mind.

Section 4 also deals with prioritising research for funding. The Government established a high level group to identify priority areas to divert this funding to as we consider the potential opportunities for the State that are economically sustainable. That not only refers to finance but also to how we live and how we organise. It is my understanding that geothermal energy has not been included as one of the 14 areas to be examined and I find this peculiar. The Minister of State recently visited the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and I also had an opportunity to visit. I attended an excellent two-hour lecture on geothermal energy and its potential benefits to the State. Extensive research has been carried out in this area, particularly about deep lying, low entropy geothermal energy potential about which the Minister of State will have heard. We have stolen a march on other countries that are looking into this and we have taken good steps. While Ireland is not a global leader, it is heading in that direction. If it is possible to generate geothermal energy on a wide scale, for example, through district heating and other measures, which would be good for the economy and the environment, I hope we do not miss an opportunity because this area has not been prioritised by the high level group. I hope it is not a case of politics getting in the way of us performing basic research into the land we occupy because of perceived insensitivities.

Section 5 deals with the pooling of financial resources with partners in Northern Ireland and internationally. This is a very important and welcome element of the Bill. When we consider co-operation between universities, countries, cultures and people, scientific co-operation has always been at the forefront in enhancing cultures and countries and it has been a way of bringing countries and people together. Great ideas have come from this such as the Hadron Collider in CERN and tsunami warning systems in the Pacific Ocean where a number of countries, institutes and researchers are working together and pooling their resources in the common good. Any funding we can provided in this regard will help other people and ourselves. I compliment the Minister of State on including this welcome section. I look forward to the remaining Stages of the Bill.

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