Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure I agree with the points made by Senator Barrett. This process on prioritisation and this legislation is not about propagating a system, rather it is about creating a new system. The legislation is designed in the first instance to create more jobs and in the second to create a system of knowledge that can be supported. It is eminently sensible that the Government via the taxpayer would prioritise those areas. There are a number of institutions relating to the research landscape in this country, for example, transport, as mentioned by the Senator. It is not true to say that the transport community was not in some way, shape or form consulted in the research prioritisation exercise. For example, the core issue in respect of priority area K, which relates to smart grids and smart cities, is transport in larger urban conurbations such as Dublin, Cork or Limerick. Work in the research community around these challenges is ongoing. There is no reason the discipline of economics cannot map onto any area of the research landscape. It is for the economists who are housed within the individual higher education institutions to think more laterally about how they can engage with other entities and research clusters in terms of the creation of an impact around that.

What we are trying to do is to force the breakdown of silos from an interdepartmental point of view. For instance, we have had some measure of success through the creation of a health innovation hub in Cork. There is ongoing engagement between the Departments of Health and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on how to push further innovation through that demonstrator model. Ireland is a small community and it is now time for people who traditionally operated within their own landscapes or silos to consider how they can collaborate and create new areas of opportunity in terms of how they carry out their research. There is nothing preventing them doing so.

Science Foundation Ireland provides opportunities in its output statement for people across the research landscape. Where good ideas, which potentially have an economic and societal impact become apparent, there will be a mechanism for them. It is for the researchers to start thinking more laterally about how they engage. There is a challenge for researchers within the community.