Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Government policy is focused on building excellence in scientific research and maximising its impact on job creation and economic and social progress. Neither I nor the Government make any apology for putting extra emphasis on research that could help to create more jobs. The Government introduced a number of policy initiatives targeted at accelerating the economic and societal return on our investment in this area. Among them was implementation of the proposals of the research prioritisation group. Following rigorous analysis and intensive engagement with all key stakeholders, this broad-based group which comprised members from industry and academia identified 14 priority areas at which the majority of competitive funding should be targeted. The areas were identified on the basis of existing strengths of the public research system, existing strengths of the enterprise base, opportunities in the global market and those most likely to deliver an economic and societal impact and employment.

Excellence in scientific research has been and will continue to be a cornerstone of the development of the science base in Ireland. This has been complemented in recent years by a sharper focus on the relevance and impact of research. Whereas research prioritisation saw greater emphasis on the economic and societal impact of research, it did not represent a move away from funding basic research. Policy has been and will continue to be to support research across the full continuum from basic to applied, through to the commercialisation of research. All research supported by Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, is in line with our research prioritisation agenda and must have an impact. This approach has been successful in developing 12 research centres of scale and ambition. This approach will underpin the successor to the strategy for science, technology and innovation which is being formulated by an interdepartmental committee which includes representatives of key Departments and the Higher Education Authority, as well as the chief scientific adviser to the Government. The views of all stakeholders, including the open letter from Irish Scientists for Basic Research, are welcome in this regard.

Evidence from both the European Union and internationally indicates that this strategy is paying off. Globally, Ireland was ranked 11th out of 142 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2014, third in the new EU indicator of innovation output, ninth in the European Commission's 2014 Innovation Union Scoreboard and among the top 20 countries in global rankings for the quality of our scientific research. We rank in the top four in the areas of immunology, animal and dairy, nanotechnology and computer science.

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