Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am never fully satisfied. It would be a boring day in politics to be fully satisfied. I reckon the Deputy is never fully satisfied either. There is always more to do. This country has a proud tradition when it comes to research, innovation and science. Equally, however, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must do more in this area, we must be more ambitious and we must invest more in publicly funded research. Europe is moving in a direction of far more ambitious targets. I attended a Council meeting of research ministers some weeks ago, and this country will need to have big and serious discussions about the review of the national development plan, our national economic plans and the like.

Crucially, we cannot work in silos. Science Foundation Ireland does incredible work, as does the Irish Research Council. The higher education institutions, by their nature, are engines of research, innovation and science. All of them must work together. I am not interested in having a fragmented strategy for one agency or one part of the sector. We must have a plan for science, research and innovation for Ireland for the next number of years, and we are working on that.

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