Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Research and Innovation Bill and what it represents for the future of Ireland, and I commend the Minister, Deputy Harris, for introducing it. Ireland has always been a land of research, of innovation and of scholars. This Bill is about bringing those values to the fore. Taighde Éireann will be an amalgamation of the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland and it is set to streamline and promote excellence in research to ensure our intellectual achievements contribute to Ireland's economic, social, cultural and environmental development. Through this Bill, arts, humanities and social science research will, for the first time ever, be put on a statutory footing. This means we are enshrining into law our commitment to research, innovation and science. I have to agree with the Minister, Deputy Harris, that this Bill will support the next generation of innovation in Ireland and create a more collaborative and diverse research and innovation system that can leverage resources to tackle key challenges, like our health and climate crises.

My concern, however, is that the current language in the heads of the Bill does not go far enough to underscore the vital role that fundamental research plays in the Irish system.

This requires dedicated resources across all career stages and all disciplines. I appreciate that the legislation needs to be future-proofed and if it is too specific, it could become outdated. I strongly feel that without covering all forms of research across all career stages and disciplines that we may miss an opportunity to enshrine into law not only applied research but also fundamental research. Fundamental research examines data to find the unknown and to fulfil a sense of curiosity. It typically has no intended use beyond furthering our knowledge of a subject and, therefore, it can often be overlooked. However, the general consensus is that applied research can only come off the back of years and years of fundamental research. The most popular example often cited of this is George Boole, the mathematician from County Cork who studied algebra and created Boolian logic, which decades later underpins computing. It is the 1s and 0s of computer programming, the ABC of computer language. It was possible only because George Boole had the opportunity to go down a rabbit hole of research. We need to make sure that falling down a rabbit hole of research remains something we encourage our innovators, our scientists and our thinkers to do because that is where change, transformation and creation is born. Our computer programming was formed on applied research but it was borne out of the fundamental research. It was only when that initial fundamental research was applied into logic that it became the backbone of most of our modern daily lives.

The IRC mainly funds individual research awards, and the vast majority go to early career researchers, for masters, PhD and postdoctoral researchers. Only a few programmes fund more established career stages and the most prominent of them is the laureate awards. The laureate programme is an outcome of the previous Government strategy for research development and innovation, which responded to the community’s outcry for more fundamental research. It was the only programme offering funds for fundamental research in Ireland for a long time.

SFI funds all kinds of awards, individual, projects and big centres. Big centres are where researchers from across Ireland collaborate under a common theme. That is especially predominant in future diary farming, marine biology, neurology. However, if we limit the themes of these centres to applied research we could be missing the very point, the very essence of innovation, by ignoring fundamental research, by not allowing our researchers to follow their theories, their passion and their ideas down their research rabbit hole. Given that 30% of budget for these centres come from industry partners, we are limiting their resources as well as the research.

The heads of Bill and new Government strategy also map out plans for an increase in challenge-based funding, where issues of national importance would be identified, and a funding call would be created to ask researchers for their solutions to the big issues of the day. The best ideas then get funded. That is incredibly important when it comes to tackling the big challenges in our society but it does mean that funding programmes are fixed to the identifiable needs of society, they are limited to the here and now and they are not looking at the fundamentals or future proofing. That is the very essence of research and innovation.

The Bill is all about promoting stronger interactions among the various actors in Ireland’s research and innovation landscape, such as research institutions, higher education, businesses, public authorities, civil society groups and European allies, which is really positive. Ireland in recent years has become a hotbed of innovation. We can see it in our tech sector, our pharma sector and, most recently, our film and creative sector. Taighde Éireann's embodiment of equality, diversity, and inclusion is a beacon of hope and a driver of change. It is fostering equal employment opportunities and connecting researchers with policymakers. This Bill is not just future-proofing Ireland's research landscape; it is future-proofing Ireland itself, if we get it right. We are supporting entrepreneurs, researchers, and ultimately, the nation's progress. I want to also congratulate Professor Philip Nolan for his new role heading Taighde Éireann. Having previously spearheaded significant growth in research and innovation at Maynooth University, Professor Nolan is exceptionally well-equipped to guide Taighde Éireann towards achieving its ambitious goals.

While Taighde Éireann is a pioneering step, it is important to recognise the critical role of fundamental research, that is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, for the sake of society, and for the sake of the future. I hope the Minister of State will take that on board with this Bill.

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