Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When over 900 of the leading researchers in the world combine and publish a letter such as this, it should surely ring alarm bells. A number of issues arise. We have supported the Minister in the past in his attempts to focus research expenditure on job-related issues but not at the cost of long-term research. For example, in the 14 areas mentioned issues to do with neuroscience are excluded. One of the successes of our foreign direct investment in recent years has been the ability of long-standing companies to use research budgets to reinvent what they had come to do. There are companies working in Ireland with partnerships and investment funds, with research and development dating back ten or 15 years, and this has resulted in hundreds of jobs being retained. The very narrow and short-term focus that is driving science funding will prohibit this from happening in the future. We do not know today what will be the main product in five years time. That is my concern. As long as the Government pursues a short-term project, we will miss out on long-term economic opportunities. More importantly, we will miss out on long-term societal opportunities. For example, in the case of illnesses that have not been researched, how can we encourage such research if we have this focus?

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