Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. This is going be a fascinating debate. I thank the Minister for his opening words, which were inspirational and educational. They certainly give real impetus in the context of the importance we need to place on science with regard to our lives, not just within the classroom but also in everything we do.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group. The focus is on creating our future and having a national conversation between the general public, the research community and policy makers. Ensuring the voices of everybody in our science community are to the fore in terms of driving our policy development is absolutely key. Some time ago, I came across a definition of education, which is that education should be a conversation between one generation and the next about how we shape the future. What the Minister is doing is very much aligned with this. As we look to the future and consider all of the challenges that impact us, from dealing with Covid to climate change, other potential viral epidemics, technological transformation and keeping pace with globalisation, scientific advancement and developments will be key to dealing with all of these issues.

We all have a renewed sense of gratitude, respect for and, to a certain extent, understanding of the pivotal work carried out in the scientific community because of, as the Minister mentioned, the tireless groundbreaking research done that led us to the Covid vaccines. Without this we would not be here in the Chamber having this debate because none of us would be able to function in any way apart from remotely. To think that our children would not be back in classrooms and we would not be able to see our loved ones getting married or honour our dead in a meaningful way would be heartbreaking. Many went through it and, thankfully, with the development of vaccines, we do not have to. The development of vaccines has given us our lives back. We owe the scientific community enormous gratitude for everything it has given, not just in Ireland but globally. The Minister said not to mention specific names but Dr. Teresa Lamb, OBE, who is from Kilcullen in Kildare, worked on creating the AstraZeneca vaccine in Oxford. She needs to be mentioned.

I pay tribute to the phenomenal work of Science Foundation Ireland for the range of events and information it has made available. I had a quick look at its website prior to coming to the House. The amount of activities taking place online and in person staggering. I commend it on this. To get in a local plug, Kildare library service has events going on all month until 27 November. They are all online and they are all free. They range from making ice cream to a family-friendly Lego forum, to something that is always of interest to everybody, which is forensic science, to astronomy and to coding. There are many ways we can explore science and bring it to younger and older people. It is very important.

A group I want to acknowledge in particular as chair of the Oireachtas women's caucus is Women in Technology and Science Ireland, WITS. This group, which is supported by Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins, aims to achieve a society where women have equal opportunities, experiences and recognition in STEM. We have a lot of work to do to equalise female participation in STEM. Figures from a UCD study showed that on CAO forms more than 40% of boys list a STEM course but just 19% of girls do so. We really need to move on this.

I want to mention Dr. Kathleen Lonsdale, who was born in 1903 in Newbridge. She became a very well-known crystallographer and was responsible for a lot of work on molecules and atoms. The women are out there but the trend I mentioned with regard to the number of boys and girls studying continues into academia. Statistics from the European University Institute show that while half of academic staff at lecturer level are female, which is great, women comprise just 19% of those who hold full professorships. Only one in six engineering graduates are women. We need to put the call out to any young girls who are inspired by what they see this week to think of STEM. WITS will host the 2021 student career series online on 16 November. They should go along and be female leaders of the future.

The Minister mentioned the decoupling of the two roles. We should thank Dr. Philip Nolan for his role in battling Covid. We should congratulate him on his new position. He is the former president of NUI Maynooth.

The Minister spoke about the figures that came in with regard to Creating our Future. There have been almost 5,000 submissions so far. This is amazing. He said most of them are from Sligo but we have to give a shout out to every other county in Ireland. The target is for 10,000 submissions by the closing date. It is incredible to see this huge level of submissions. The submissions will be considered by an expert panel and the findings and the conversation will be brought to the Government and published. I hope we have the opportunity to engage again on all of this. The fact that young people and older people can help inform our research and innovation policy is tremendous.

It was a long held ambition of Fianna Fáil to have a stand-alone Department for third level and further education. The Minister is heading it. It is a very exciting Department and there has been incredible innovation. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, for all their work in the area.