Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner. It was interesting that she referred to women in science. It is important we highlight the benefits of research and development. Today is ovarian cancer day, to raise awareness of that issue. In the last two months, research funding of €6 million was announced for investigation of pre-eclampsia, to which a quarter of all maternity deaths in Europe can be attributed.

I have visited Shanghai and while I was there I saw how they assemble research hubs. We, however, have not done this. We have six universities dealing with medical education. Would we be better off amalgamating and coordinating research to a much greater extent in our universities? Would we be better off with three medical colleges focusing on medical research instead of having six individual units? We must look at better co-ordination.