Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

That is one possibility. With regard to the public and political engagement with science, we are talking about an apolitical space, which I mentioned before. Professor Mark Ferguson, the new director of Science Foundation Ireland, has engaged with the Oireachtas through breakfast briefings. If there are specific ideas that must come from this forum, we should try to facilitate it. That is one idea. If a representative group from this House wanted to explore some of those possibilities, I would more than gladly meet those involved.

With regard to women and science, I attended the women and science event at the European Commission quite recently. I agree with Senator Power's comments. It is fascinating that the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, in UCD has a significant gender balance but when we move up the science food chain, we are more likely to find men in pinstripe suits. There must be a mechanism to allow greater involvement by women in key decision making programmes. How can a man like myself talk about this without sounding patronising? That is the other challenge. I can say I am from a generation of men with no issues of gender; my colleagues are female and if my boss is a woman, so be it. I do not know how to speak about this with authority except to say there are initiatives through programmes involving women in science and mathematics. There is the question of breaking the glass ceiling and if policy instruments or quotas can be used, and I do not know if that is possible. It is a conversation I am willing to have.

Senator Quinn referred to Watson and Crick and I am envious that Mr. James Watson is going to the Senator's house for dinner. I would love to be there. Senators Quinn and Barrett are correct in that we must create a space in this country for debate about issues like genetically modified organisms, nuclear fission and food security. In my constituency there is Teagasc at Moorepark, and there is a deep engagement, for example, between food science, the dairy industry and food technology through UCC and places like it. With regard to the Teagasc facility at Moorepark and elsewhere, I would very much like to create a space where Teagasc would have some degree of autonomy to try to spin out its own companies. That would create huge opportunities. I am scheduled to meet with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, to explore the possibilities.

Teagasc is an entity which faces enterprise and I know people like Mr. Paul Ross at Moorepark in Fermoy, who is part of a research cluster in UCC. There is an engagement through Moorepark Technology limited. I am not being too parochial about this but it is a microcosm of what is happening. Perhaps further possibilities should be explored around that and I hope to have further engagement on that also.

It is a key point that we do not know the amount of intellectual property that has been created through the decades or what is to come. That is why we created the intellectual property protocol and the idea of having a central technology transfer office. Every academic institution or research facility will be plugged into a technology transfer system and an intellectual property protocol, and that will at least give guidance to scientists, industry and the public with regard to funding of science and research.

Many other issues have been raised and I would be happy to engage further with Senators on those. I thank the Senators for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.