Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am looking forward to and enjoying the contributions from everyone on this important topic. Science and research shape our modern world and its future more than any other profession or area of study. Scientific progress can be a matter of life and death for those suffering from disease, those living in poverty and those plagued by a lack of natural resources, just as it can open opportunities to improve quality of life for all. The kinds of scientific endeavour we commit to mirror who we are as a society. How we prioritise research echoes what we want our future to be like and what wrongs we wish to right. As a result, only those who have access to scientific education will be able to influence the very direction we take as a future-facing country, one which is quickly becoming – or I would argue has become - a global leader in innovation.

Ireland's diversity is a point of national pride and we must ensure that diversity is reflected in how we work towards a better future, or risk leaving groups behind who do not traditionally have a seat at the table in relation to master’s degrees, PhDs or who gets to partake in the research that we rely on. For that reason, it is of paramount importance that our scientific research is conducted by a cohort that is representative of all groups and outlooks in the population. Though great strides have been made in recent years to reach out to groups who face greater challenges accessing a scientific education and turning it into a career, more work and greater nuance is required to ensure a balance is struck.

Women in STEM programmes have been excellent and a necessary step in the right direction and have yielded results. However, without an intersectional approach, we will fail to elevate individuals who have been less represented in the past. Despite improvements, women face sustained challenges when considering their future in science and research and to heal these ails, we must consider the difficulties encountered by those who are working class or who live in poverty. Furthermore, these issues are exacerbate for women of colour and those from migrant families. Our educational institutions, community programmes and Government bodies are not doing enough at present to recognise that their struggle demands greater attention.

We should look and take inspiration from programmes such as Maynooth University’s STEM Passport for Inclusion as beacons of progress where young women from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who may not have had traditionally accessed STEM careers are mentored in digital skills through activities such as computational thinking, artificial intelligence, computer science and the ethics behind it all. When students of the programme complete three lab days and independent learning activities, they receive an award that they can use on their CAO to access STEM courses in Maynooth University and Munster Technological University. The STEM Passport for Inclusion should act as a blueprint that can be replicated across the country. I wish to give credit to and mention my great friend, Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan, who has been a forerunner in enacting and driving this project. It is worthwhile and having tangible benefits for the young women involved, their families and the communities they come from. I will strongly argue for a scientific community too into the future. Working-class women are less likely to enter STEM careers, and without their contributions, future innovations will not reflect their wants and needs in a way that they should. Therefore, it is essential that we ramp up supports. If Ireland is to continue to grow as a hub for science and research, we will need contributions from every group and background to fulfil the opportunities and vacancies that are due to face us. Without them, our economy will shrink and we will become a less attractive location for future-facing initiatives.

In the brief time that I have left, I also wish to express my solidarity with those who have been laid off in the past few weeks, those who find themselves sitting in precarious circumstances in tech companies and those who continue to fear for their jobs as a consequence of billionaires who behave in a manner that I think we would all agree is unethical. It is important to realise that technological progress cannot always benefit society if it is laid in the hands of individual oligarchs. We have recently seen how one billionaire can acquire a company and indiscriminately fire many of its core staff. Now the platform is at risk of violating regulatory orders and putting its users at risk. It is for this very reason that it is essential for inclusion of all group in STEM. We must democratise the tech industry to ensure that everyone’s voices are heard and avoid the tyranny of the reckless egos that we are seeing today.

We have seen automation and technology increase the possibility and precariousness of people in employment before. It is no coincidence and we probably can see parallels along the docklands today, where these same people who work in tech economies are fearing for their jobs, as 50 years ago, people along the docklands were losing their jobs to containerisation and a form of technological advancement that left communities behind. We must ensure that as we increase in technological capabilities and as the prospect of artificial intelligence becomes more real, we do not leave entire swathes of communities and people behind. We need to get clever in terms of how we invest more socially in society. As we move forward, we must always ask ourselves how this will affect workers’ rights, for example. How will this affect our neighbourhoods or towns and cities? Can we stop developing entire cities and towns for the technologies or bubbles of the day? I see that down in the docklands at the minute, where in the midst of a housing crisis we have single-room accommodations lying idle because they were built for a particular industry that is now at risk.

Science Week’s 2022 theme is infinite possibilities. It is essential that we ensure those possibilities will flow to all, not just a few.

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