James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Breen, for standing in for missing-in-action Minister of State, Deputy Halligan. We will watch that space.

My colleagues and I are not aware of the cross-party group to which the Minister of State referred. I would seek further information on it. To my knowledge, it has not met. If it has, Fianna Fáil has not been invited. This is of concern. Science and research are very important to our nation in terms of education and the economy. It is well understood that pure research drives economic and scientific advancements. A recent Financial Timeseditorial championed it and it needs to be prioritised by advanced economies. The Government's approach has been to drop it down the scale and focus on commercial activity and, in terms of technology readiness, prioritise those areas closest to market. This not research but product development. An article in yesterday's Irish Independentsaid, "the Government here is unusually weak when it comes to direct funding of innovation". We are second last in the EU bloc. We need to see what is going to be done to change this, how it will be tackled, when the mid-term review will be and when the cross-party group will meet. My colleagues and I are not aware that it has met.

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