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

This week is Science Week, and we all share a belief in the fundamental value of research, innovation, discovery and teaching. We want to be positive about this, particularly in Science Week. However, we must also be realistic and, unfortunately, the rhetoric is not always based on fact. The Government's Innovation 2020 programme commits to a goal of 2.5% of GDP funding for research and development by 2020. We are barely halfway there. We hit 1.42% recently. The Nevin Economic Research Institute flagged this earlier this year as a serious risk to our economic progress. The Department's own figures suggest we are at the bottom of the European league table, and the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, admitted the same - that the target will not be met - at a budget night briefing. How does the Taoiseach propose to address this gap?

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