Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important legislation. I have spoken before in the House on science, technology and innovation, and particularly the State structures in place for the science sector, as I have a major interest in the area. I worked in the area before coming to the House. I often think that the industry supports so many elements of employment and direct contributions to the economy across all communities, and one will always find somebody either directly or indirectly connected to the science, technology and engineering fields, whether it is in light engineering or nanotechnology.

It is a Cinderella in terms of public administration. If one considers how science, innovation, engineering, research and technology have been treated, they are scattered among a clatter of different agencies and a range of different Departments. Based on the number of people working in the area and who derive their employment directly from it, I make no bones about stating that it should have a full Department. I watched the debate in my office before coming to the Chamber and many Deputies spoke about foreign direct investment in their own communities, as well as the indigenous industry available in the science and technology sectors. If there was any other contribution to the economy in every county that is as big as the science, technology, innovation and engineering sectors, it would warrant a separate Department. I have held that firm view for a long time.

The Bill is welcome as it gives us an opportunity to talk about how science and innovation is structured in a range of areas, and I will focus on education. I have raised the matter umpteen times. It is frightening to consider the take-up of physics, chemistry, biology and higher level or applied maths at second level and the numbers dropping out of courses involving physics, chemistry and applied maths at higher levels. We are not producing enough people to take up those subjects to leaving certificate level who will be able to continue to third level courses at a degree level and through institutes of technology. We are storing up a major problem as the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has people going around the world through State agencies such as IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland trying to attract people into the country but we do not have the educational infrastructure in place to encourage people to get into science at a much earlier stage. We should be doing this at primary level and we should encourage people at junior and senior cycle at second level to take on those subjects.

I can provide a case in point. A person can get into a third level science degree course in any university in the country with ordinary level maths and biology. The general degree in first year might entail physics, chemistry and biology, with higher level maths. People might wonder after first year in UCC, UCD or elsewhere why so many people drop out. To be fair, students are encouraged by the Central Applications Office, CAO, to fill out a form for a course they might like to do without realising the requirements to be able to sustain that course. If we are honest about improving the way we produce science graduates at third, fourth and post-doctoral level, we should address the CAO entry system and how people are encouraged into the area.

There has been much talk over the past number of months about restructuring the local authorities in Limerick and amalgamating the two existing authorities. There is fantastic educational infrastructure in the form of the University of Limerick and the Limerick Institute of Technology. Part of this Bill relates to the major land bank owned by Shannon Development. I have said it before but I will say again how I have major concerns about the future use of the land bank in the mid-west. This Bill takes in science, innovation, engineering, etc., but the educational infrastructure, local authorities, Science Foundation Ireland, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland must put a proper structure in place to allow graduates from institutes of technology and our universities to have proper incubation facilities where they can start up businesses.

The development of the science and innovation sector is not all about jobs arriving in Dublin Airport or announcements from the foreign direct investment sector. Many Irish companies at the micro level need basic assistance like incubation units and when we have as much land as we do currently, we should be more creative in putting that land bank to use. Storing it in the hope that we will recover the market prices of 2008 is not the answer and we must grasp the nettle and make a firm decision on the land bank previously owned by Shannon Development. We must use this Bill to ensure we can bring about the maximum number of jobs. I disagree with Deputy Naughten in this regard, as there is no point in having a science and innovation strategic framework that does not make a contribution to the economy as we need the economy to finance it and fund it into the future. The areas are not mutually exclusive and they are inextricably linked. We must foster growth.

As somebody with a background in science who has worked in the industry at Proctor & Gamble in Nenagh over a good few years, I welcome the Bill. I feel strongly that this is a Cinderella industry in terms of public administration in Ireland and it should be given much more credence. We need to get to a stage where the bench in front of me will have a Cabinet Minister with sole responsibility for the development of science, innovation, energy, engineering and technology.

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