John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Areas of speciality include pharma, big data, medical research, nano materials, telecommunications, smart manufacturing and, in the case of INFANT, clinical and health research and innovation in pregnancy, birth and early childhood. Science Foundation Ireland’s commitment of €429 million to these research centres is complemented by an industry commitment of €230 million. The research centres are an embodiment of Science Foundation Ireland’s transformational effect on the national research system. They represent major funding awards, linking scientists and engineers in partnerships across 19 research bodies, including all seven universities, and 328 companies throughout Ireland.

Science Foundation Ireland currently supports 17 such research centres. They are approved for funding following a rigorous international peer review process. Once established, each centre is subject to a rigorous on-site review involving international experts every two years. Furthermore, all research centres understood at all times there was not to be any automatic guarantee of additional funding for a new six-year term at the end of their award term. As part of their four-year strategy review, centres were invited to submit a proposal for a second six-year term of research funding. The quality and overall competitiveness of these new funding proposals, from a scientific and impact perspective, were evaluated by the same international experts assessing the centre’s progress to date. In addition, an international oversight panel was involved, whose role was to provide quality assurance to the review process.

In the case of INFANT, the independent international oversight panel recommended that it should not receive immediate refunding. That was the assessment. The independent international oversight panel instead recommended that INFANT proceed to a separate competition to be reviewed against other potential centre applicants in 2020. SFI has followed this recommendation which means SFI’s funding, for the time being, will end in May 2019. The decision, therefore, is the product of a rigorous procedure of evaluation undertaken by a panel of international experts. Through this process, SFI can be assured of an impartial and independent procedure, based on established best international practice. As SFI has run such an international review process in line with best practice, I, as Minister, cannot intervene in the process.

I will revert to the Deputy on two other issues he raised.

See this speech in context