Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

I am pleased to speak on Science Week 2025, marking its 30th anniversary. This year's theme, "Then. Today. Tomorrow.", asks us to take an honest look at how far we have come, where we now stand and what choices we must make to secure a fair and sustainable future for our young people and for research in Ireland.

Science Week began three decades ago as a relatively modest outreach effort. Today, it is the biggest science festival in the State with thousands of events involving schools, universities, libraries, youth services and communities. It is testament to the passion and commitment of educators, researchers and volunteers across Ireland. Throughout the country, we see that energy every year with schools taking part in hands-on STEM workshops, university and research-led events by all universities and higher education institutes across the country. Youth projects throughout the country use Science Week materials to encourage coding, robotics and environmental science in ways that are accessible and fun. That is real inclusion in action.

However, it also highlights the key challenge before us. How do we ensure that children and young people in every community, not just the well-resourced ones, have equal access to science education, research pathways and the careers that flow from them? As the Labour Party spokesperson on education and youth, that question is central to my work. This is the first major Science Week under a new integrated agency, Research Ireland, formed from the merger of SFI and the Irish Research Council. It was meant to bring coherence, stability and fairness to the research system. Let us be frank and honest. A new logo and a merged board will not fix the deeper structural issues that students, PhD researchers, postdocs and academic staff are experiencing every day: chronic underfunding, precarious contracts, a lack of genuine career paths and widening inequality in access to research careers.

Ireland's research and development intensity still lags behind the EU average. Meanwhile, the Government has found room to increase the research and development tax credit for multinationals even though our publicly-funded research system remains stretched, reactive and overly dependent on short-term project grants. That imbalance tells a story. We are quick to subsidise big business but slow to invest in people, in public research, in our universities and in our young people.

If we are serious about being a knowledge-driven economy and a fair society, that must change.

Science Week rightly celebrates curiosity but curiosity needs opportunity. In too many schools, especially DEIS schools, science education is held back by inadequate laboratory facilities, outdated equipment and insufficient supports for inquiry-based, hands-on learning. The physical infrastructure of Irish science education is not fit for the demands we place on teachers and students. We saw that this year when science teachers across the country were asked to roll out leaving certificate reform without the adequate resources in place.

In my constituency of Cork North-Central, I have spoken to teachers who are doing heroic work in outdated laboratories or without a laboratory at all. They should not have to compensate for systemic neglect. The Labour Party believes every child should have access to a modern science laboratory regardless of their postcode. Every teacher should be supported with proper continuing professional development, CPD, resources and time to deliver inquiry-based STEM education. Every youth service should be able to offer meaningful engagement with digital skills, coding, climate science and robotics, not just sporadic workshops. Science Week shows what is possible but it must be a catalyst, not a once-a-year showcase.

The reality in our higher education system is stark. Many early year career researchers are on fixed-term, insecure contracts. PhD researchers are trying to survive on stipends that do not meet the cost of living, especially in major cities such as Cork, Dublin and Galway. Universities are being asked to do more with less while navigating financial instability. The gap between industry-led and public interest research continues to widen. If we want the next generation, including young people across the country, to pursue research careers, we must make research a stable, viable and respected profession. This means we need: a living stipend and proper worker status for PhD students and researchers; multi-annual, inflation-proof funding for Research Ireland; secure career pathways for post-doctoral researchers; dedicated investment in public good research on housing, health, education, youth well-being, social cohesion and climate justice; and funding streams that value the arts, humanities and the social sciences, recognising that real innovation requires the full spectrum of knowledge.

Science Week places inclusion at its core and it must stay there. Girls and young women remain under-represented in STEM pathways. Students with disabilities still face barriers to accessing laboratories, equipment and placements. Young people in deprived areas encounter fewer opportunities, role models and routes into higher education.

In my constituency of Cork North-Central, we know the difference that role models, community partnerships and sustained investment can make. However, we cannot rely on individual schools or local heroes to do all the heavy lifting. Inclusion must be designed into curriculum reform, funding decisions, research priorities, university access programmes and youth services. Ireland cannot afford to waste talent, and talent is found in every estate, classroom and youth centre regardless of where people live.

The theme of "Then. Today. Tomorrow." invites us to learn from the past - then, public investment delivered vaccination programmes, environmental protections, medical breakthroughs and digital infrastructure; today, research tells us clearly what must be done on climate, housing, health, youth mental health and educational inequality but Government too often chooses inaction; and tomorrow, we face rapid developments in AI, bio-engineering and automation. These are not abstract; they will reshape education, work, democracy and the lives of young people growing up in Ireland today.

Science Week should not only be about celebrating discovery. It must also be about democratic accountability. Evidence must guide policy, even when uncomfortable. Science Week gives us a glimpse of Ireland at its best: curious, ambitious, creative and collaborative. However, behind the celebrations lies a clear responsibility for this House and for us as policymakers. We must invest in children, teachers and youth workers. We must build a higher education system based on fairness, not precarity. We need to equip the next generation for the challenges of climate, technology and social change.

We must ensure all young people in this country have the same opportunities no matter where they live or what their postcode is. If they are in a socio-economically deprived area, it should not deter any young person from being involved in STEM. Science Week is a reminder that talent is everywhere and it is our job to ensure that opportunity is everywhere too.

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