Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Commissioner, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn, to the House. I thank her for coming to speak to us. As the Leader, Senator Cummins, stated, her visit here is part of a formal engagement process we are undertaking with the European Union, with our representatives in the European Union and with others in the European Union, such as Commissioners. We invited a number of Ireland's MEPs and we have had constructive engagements with them, but it is particularly good to welcome Ms Geoghegan-Quinn here.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's illustrious political career, and I thought I might add a few more reflections on how her career has paved the way for some positive developments that are still ongoing. As the Cathaoirleach stated, she was made a Minister in 1979 and, of course, the first woman Cabinet Minister since Constance Markievicz or since the foundation of the State. She was then Chair of the first parliamentary committee on women's rights in the 1980s. Following other Ministries, as Minister for Justice in 1993, in a particularly noteworthy Ministry, she introduced some important reforms. Of course, the 1993 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was of special importance in decriminalising homosexuality. It is perhaps a reflection on how far we have come since then that we are now contemplating a referendum next year on gay marriage or marriage equality following the Constitutional Convention's strong vote in favour of such a referendum.

Of course, the other aspect of the 1993 Act often overlooked were the provisions reforming the law on prostitution. I thought the Commissioner might be interested to hear that today the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality will review a report it is compiling on prostitution to look at further potential reform in the law. There are a number of ways in which Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's Ministry and career has paved the way for further change.

I offer my personal thanks again to Ms Geoghegan-Quinn for participating in the December 2008 event held in the Dáil Chamber to celebrate women's participation in politics with the Oireachtas women's day. As she will be aware, since then we passed the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012, which will see quite a transformation in the gender breakdown in politics as it will require political parties to select at least 30% of their candidates of each gender in the next general election. Hopefully, there will be a big increase in the numbers of women ultimately elected. These all are positive developments and I pay tribute to Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's work in paving the way for some of these.

Turning to the topic of Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's speech and her work as Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, I am delighted to see in her article in The Irish Times today that she spoke of the need to ensure a focus on humanities and social sciences and that these are not neglected.

Often these areas can be overlooked when we speak about leading innovation in the ICT and high-tech sectors. To declare an interest, in my capacity as an academic I received EU funding in the 1990s for research on rape law which informed changes in how we prosecute and try rape cases in Ireland. It was very helpful to us to receive EU funding which enabled us to examine comparative laws in other jurisdictions and see best practice elsewhere. There are many examples of how in many different areas we can see EU funding assisting innovation and progress in different ways.

The Commissioner's work more generally in devising Horizon 2020 is hugely important. The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Sherlock, is chairing negotiations on Horizon 2020 and there is a clear imperative to ensure the transition between FP7 and Horizon 2020 is smooth with no hiatus or gap in which cracks could appear. Agreement is required on the €70 billion to €80 billion package because it is also an important stimulus for the European economy, as the Commissioner outlined clearly in her speech, with a potential €1 billion drawdown for Ireland. It is important that we simplify the funding cost model, move to a unified model and see a drawdown for Ireland.

It is also timely to note that today is the day the QS university rankings have been published. As a Senator for Dublin University I am particularly proud and glad to see Trinity College Dublin doing particularly well, with a top 50 ranking in four subjects and a top 100 in 14 more, including my subject of law. It is very good to see other Irish universities also doing well in the rankings. It is good to see we are clearly punching above our weight at a time of cutbacks throughout the third level sector.

The Commissioner referred to many of the innovative projects in various Irish academic institutions, such as CRANN in Trinity where research is leading the field. The key imperative with regard to Horizon 2020 is the need to bridge the gap between research and the market, about which the Commissioner has spoken previously. She stated Ireland leads in profiting from the economic effects of innovation and she outlined some of the challenges. The EU overall faces challenges, as it still lags behind the innovation leaders of the US, Japan and South Korea. Although we are closing the gap, and the Commissioner is very conscious of the need to close this gap, we must be aware that while we have had progress at EU level there is no room for complacency in how we fund and generate research. The European research area initiative is exciting because it offers greater potential for a joined up approach to leading in innovation. How can we ensure the three imperatives of invest, reform and transform, which the Commissioner mentioned in previous speeches, are met through Horizon 2020? How can we ensure Horizon 2020 will cut red tape, which is one of the great promises it makes? I know from personal experience the large amount of red tape which comes with any granting of EU funding for research. It is important to ensure transparency and accountability and that research funding is made on a merit basis only, but at the same time it can be very off-putting for people seeking the funding.

How do we ensure Horizon 2020 is the benchmark for funding the entire chain and the benchmark for linking academic work to the market value we all hope we will achieve? I thank the Commissioner for her very thought-provoking words and for coming to speak to us today.