Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Acting Chairman might give me some discretion as a lot of my colleagues did not use their time. That is something I rarely ask for but I will do so now given the importance of this issue. I welcome the Minister's confirmation that he is decoupling the roles of director general of Science Foundation Ireland and chief scientific adviser. Those jobs were combined back in 2012. It was an appalling decision for many reasons, which I will come back to, but especially as regards the Nyberg report on banking that was published the year before. I welcome the Minister's decision. It is important that we have an independent scientific adviser. Putting the two together was shocking and was a conflict of interest.

The Minister also spoke about opening up a conversation about what science is. It is very dangerous to look at science in isolation. I come from Galway city. It is a thriving city on the one hand, if we ignore the housing crisis, the public transport problem and the traffic congestion. It is a thriving city in terms of the number of pharmaceutical companies and biomedical device manufacturers we have. I am acutely aware of the importance of science. Coming from my background, I was offered the choice of Latin, science or typewriting in school. I am glad things have moved on. My brother who is roughly the same age as me, albeit slightly older, was offered physics, biology, chemistry and applied maths. That is what we were offered, a man and a woman, as young people at that time. I am acutely aware of this issue but talking about science in isolation and confining it to a number of subjects is extremely dangerous. To me, science is about inculcating a sense of questioning in somebody, whether a child or an adult. It is about inculcating curiosity in them, giving them the courage to ask questions and persisting to get the answers, and giving them the courage to say they are wrong and to try to do it better. Science is much more than the subjects that are associated with it in such a narrow way.

The author of the Nyberg report used words like "herding" and referred to a dangerous consensus being one of the causes of the banking crisis in Ireland. Of course, outside events also contributed to it but he talked about all the other causes such as lack of leadership and the enablers and silent observers who let it happen. Then there was the consensus mentality. We have learned nothing. I am going to go around in circles a little on this. The Minister spoke about climate change and the importance of science. It is absolutely important but we have utterly ignored it. I will go back to my own city. I have a book here called Five Minutes to Midnight?: Ireland and Climate Change, by Kieran Hickey. He is from County Tipperary and was born in Cahir. When he published this book in 2014, he told us that climate change will transform Ireland and was absolutely ignored. There is scientific evidence and that is only one example of many. Professor Peter Thorne from Maynooth University is quoted in yesterday's Irish Independent, which reads:

Climate change research is starved of support in Ireland, with inadequate and uncertain funding hampering progress, one of the country's foremost climate scientists has said.

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Prof Thorne of Maynooth University, one of the authors of last August’s landmark UN climate report, made his comments as the Taoiseach prepared to jointly launch a new all-Ireland [initiative]

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'Climate and biodiversity doesn’t have a space in SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) research centres and it tends to be funded as piecemeal desk studies, so it means you get a PhD or postdoc researcher in for two or three years and then you wave goodbye to them' ...

I could go on quoting but I will leave it to Members to read about the piecemeal nature of our research and the lack of independence. Such is these scientists' frustration that they have come together to set up a research network. They must be adequately funded if we are seriously interested in independent scientific minds, in scientific research and in tackling climate change.

The Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin is closing in February. This is happening along with other shrinking of creative and cultural spaces in Dublin, such as the closing of the Cobblestone pub and the loss of artistic studio space because of high rents, but I will zone in on the Science Gallery. It reopened on 28 October 2021 and days after the opening of the first exhibition since its long closure, the 15 staff were informed by Trinity that the gallery will close in February 2022 due to unsustainable losses. What is happening here is that we are failing to realise the connection between science and the creative mind and so we are perpetuating the ideology that creative jobs are unsustainable or not worthwhile. I would love more discussion and more time to look at this.

Pure science does not really exist because on many occasions science is fully aligned with industry, taking us in a particular direction. Where were the voices of the independent scientists in relation to the unsustainable ideology-led development of eternal consumerism and disposal? Where were those voices? There were a few very brave people in geography and so on who stood up and stood outside the consensus mentality. Who is doing that today and saying that this is not possible and that we cannot go on like this? Science was never pure, although it had the ability to be pure and still has.

I spent the weekend looking at a few books I read years ago. A Woman to Blame: The Kerry Babies Casewas written by Nell McCafferty as far back as 1985. When I mentioned this story to my two grown-up sons they looked at me as if I was from a different world. This was the tribunal of inquiry into the Garda's behaviour that became a tribunal of inquiry into an innocent woman. It is connected to this debate because medical and scientific evidence was brought forward to say there was something like a one in a million chance that sexual intercourse with two men within a short space of time had led to this women being pregnant with twins. I invite Members to read this book and tell me I was not on magic mushrooms when I reread it and read about what was done in the name of science and research. A tribunal of inquiry into the Garda became a tribunal of inquiry into the morality and sexual behaviour of a woman. Let us not fool ourselves when we talk about science being pure. Let us look at how we make science belong to us all. In that sense I welcome the Minister's initiative of going out and asking what the future is. That future should enable and empower us to ask questions, and - to use that terrible phrase - step outside the box, look at things differently and have the courage to say not to do these things in our name because it is not right.

I refer to the Covid vaccines. We have an extraordinary situation where the leader of the Labour Party, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are calling out for booster shots and the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, is saying to please be careful here because the research has not been completed. It is saying that this is a huge policy decision that needs debate and discussion. There is certainly a strong case for boosters for those who are vulnerable and immunocompromised but there is consensus from the established parties, which are shouting for boosters without any expertise and without even beginning to question who should get them first. NIAC in this case is on the side of the angels, saying that we should be careful here.

I welcome the opportunity to take part in the debate. I wish we had more time and I thank the Acting Chairman for the extra time he allowed me.

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