Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to address the House and present the Research and Innovation Bill 2024 here today. As Members are aware, this Bill is vital legislation which will provide for the establishment of a new research and innovation agency, Taighde Éireann. The purpose of this Bill is to create an agency with the capacity to address the very real issues society faces, in particular climate change and the digital transition, and to enable us to better engage and compete internationally in terms of the huge opportunities ahead of us in research and innovation.

The new agency is a vital step towards achieving the core objective of Impact 2030 - Ireland's Research and Innovation Strategy. This seeks to ensure Ireland's collective research and innovation investments and activities make as big a difference as possible to as many people as possible.

Before we begin today's examination of the Bill, I acknowledge and thank all those here, especially Senators Higgins, Flynn, O'Loughlin and O'Reilly who have engaged with the Department and who have provided us with continued support and feedback at each stage of the development of the Bill, in particular during the highly constructive and valuable pre-legislative scrutiny process. This engagement has been essential to developing robust and considered legislation and to ensuring we give the new agency the strongest possible foundation.

In brief, the purpose of the legislation is to establish Taighde Éireann, a new research and innovation funding agency. The Bill also provides for the dissolution of Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, and the transfer of all staff, liabilities and assets to the new agency. The staff of the Irish Research Council, IRC, as well as associated liabilities and assets will also be transferred from the Higher Education Authority, HEA, to the new agency.

I am proposing a couple of minor technical amendments to the Bill on Committee Stage, which I have indicated in the other House. These will not in any way change the policy intention of the published Bill. There has been substantial development of this legislation since the heads of the Bill were published last year and a more robust and substantial appeals provision has been inserted, both in terms of offering recipients of funding an indisputably impartial appeal and in the interests of offering the agency protection from any possible legal challenge.

The published heads of the Bill also referred to a specific arts, humanities and social sciences, AHSS, council. It became clear during stakeholder engagement and the scrutiny of the Bill that the provision was not welcome and it has been removed in the course of the drafting process. We have also done substantial work on ensuring the drafting work on the definitions, objectives and functions of the Bill have been guided by the principle of ensuring parity of esteem throughout and this is now very clear in the published text.

I want to move now to the text of the Bill. The Bill will enable the creation of the new research and innovation funding agency, Taighde Éireann.The agency will contribute to the realisation of programme for Government, national development plan and Impact 2030 policy aims of creating a cohesive and efficient national research and innovation system, with the capacity to address national challenges and embrace new opportunities. The Bill provides a legal basis for the functions of Taighde Éireann and the role of the Minister. The agency will be responsible for securing the achievement of Government objectives for the research and innovation system, and for ensuring accountability and securing value for money in the use of public funds. The Bill repeals Part 2 of the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) Act 2003, sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) (Amendment) Act 2013, and sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Act 2014. The Bill revokes the Science Foundation Ireland superannuation scheme 2016 - SI 594 of 2016.

The objectives or high-level principles of the agency are to promote the attainment and maintenance of excellence in the standard and quality of research and innovation undertaken; to support the undertaking of research and innovation in all fields of activity and disciplines by researchers with different levels of knowledge, experience and specialist skills in such fields or disciplines; to promote and support the contribution made by research and innovation to economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability within the State; to strengthen the engagement of the research innovation system with the Government, Ministers of the Government, and bodies, whether statutory or otherwise, which are funded wholly or partly by public moneys, and enterprise, non-governmental organisations, cultural institutions and society generally; to promote and develop the reputation of the State internationally as a location that is favourable for undertaking research and innovation; to enhance the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion with regard to opportunities to undertake research and innovation; and in the undertaking of that research and innovation.

I now outline the specific parts of the key sections of the Bill. Sections 1 to 5, inclusive, are standard provisions relating to the Short Title and commencement, interpretation, regulations and orders, expenses, repeals and revocation. Sections 6 and 7 deal with the establishment day and the establishment of the agency. Section 8 lists the objectives, or key principles, that apply to Taighde Éireann when undertaking its functions, which we have already looked at. Section 9 lists the functions of Taighde Éireann. They are to promote the objectives of the agency to promote and develop research and innovation in the State by designing and administering funding schemes in accordance with international good practice for the award and disbursement of funding for research and innovation in accordance with Part 3; support the development and maintenance of a national system of research and innovation in co-operation and collaboration with An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachais, Enterprise Ireland and the other bodies to which section 48 applies and such other persons and bodies in the higher education and research system or the research and innovation system as the agency considers appropriate; to promote research and innovation which supports the development and competitiveness of enterprise and employment in the State - nationally and regionally - and to do so in co-operation and collaboration with Enterprise Ireland and the other bodies to which section 48 applies; to promote the engagement, retention and development of the skills and capacity of researchers of an excellent standard in the national system of research and innovation and, as may be appropriate, to do so in co-operation with An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachais and other bodies to which section 48 applies; and to promote the attracting to the State of research and innovation teams of an excellent standard and individuals with an interest in research and innovation of an excellent standard with a view to their carrying out research and innovation in the State.

In co-operation with An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachais it will promote and support the undertaking of research and innovation in the higher education and research system and in the research and innovation system; to contribute to the development, assessment and evaluation of research and innovation to ensure that a standard and quality of excellence is consistently adhered to by those in the research and innovation system; to promote the links and mutual benefits between research and innovation undertaken and teaching and learning activities in the higher education system; to promote the success of research and innovation undertaken in the State, which is supported by awards of funding made by an international or European Union body, institution or organisation; to promote co-operation and collaboration with regard to research and innovation between those who fund or undertake research and innovation in the State and those who do so in Northern Ireland; to assess and evaluate the outcomes and, where appropriate, the impact on economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability grounds of research and innovation undertaken, for which funding is awarded by the agency; to promote and support awareness and understanding of the value of research and innovation to society and facilitate engagements of members of the public with those engaged in research and innovation activities; to support the undertaking of research and innovation that informs the development of public policy and encourages and facilitates the collation and sharing of findings of research and innovation for that purpose; and to enter into funding partnerships and advise the Minister in relation to national policy on research and innovation in accordance with section 14.Section 10 provides standard provisions for the appointment of consultants, advisers and assessors.

Sections 11 to 14, inclusive, provide that the Minister may give directions and issue guidelines in writing to the agency; that the agency shall provide reports and information to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on any matter related to the performance of the functions of the new agency; and that the agency may provide advice to the Minister on any matter related to the performance of its functions.

Sections 15 to 2, inclusive, relate to the board of the new agency. These are standard provisions that the agency shall have a board established under this legislation to perform the functions of the agency. Board appointments will be made by the Minister. The board will have 12 members comprising a chairperson and 11 ordinary members with gender balance, including at least one Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment nominated member. The board is to be recruited through an open and transparent competency-based Public Appointments Service process. The board may establish committees, to be known as councils, to advise in relation to the performance of any of its functions. As outlined earlier, the provision requiring one of these to be an arts, humanities and social sciences council has been removed.

Sections 22 to 27, inclusive, provide for: a grant to the agency each year from funds provided by the Oireachtas; the preparation and adoption by the agency of a corporate plan every five years; an annual plan to be prepared by the agency; the keeping of accounts by the agency; the audit of these accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General; the laying of the accounts and report on the accounts before each House of the Oireachtas; and the preparation of an annual report by the agency by 30 June each year and the laying of that report before the Houses of the Oireachtas and gifts to the agency from any other sources.

Sections 28 to 31, inclusive, are standard provisions in relation to the role of the chief executive officer of the agency.

Sections 32 to 34, inclusive, are standard provisions in relation to the staff of the agency including superannuation and prohibition of unauthorised disclosure by members of staff of the agency of confidential information except where required by law or as a protected disclosure.

Part 3 deals with arrangements for the funding of research and innovation. Sections 35 to 48, inclusive, outline requirements around funding partnerships engaged in by the agency and arrangements with Ministers concerning collaboration on research and innovation. Section 48 deals with administrative co-operation with other bodies. The agency shall prepare and establish a framework, with the approval of the Minister, for the allocation of funding. Funding to bodies shall be made in accordance with such conditions of funding as specified by the chief executive officer of the agency. The chief executive officer of the agency may request the use of information provided by other bodies to establish whether a research programme meets the criteria, terms and conditions of the funding framework and to ensure a funded body is compliant on an ongoing basis with the conditions of funding. The chief executive officer may request a review of compliance with conditions of funding by a funded body and may issue appropriate directions in writing regarding continued compliance with the conditions of funding. The chief executive officer may impose remedial or other measures on the funded body for non-compliance with the agreed conditions of funding. An appeal provision has also been included in sections 44 to 46.

Part 4 consists of sections 49 and 50, which provide for the collection and sharing of personal and non-personal data from funded bodies subject to the data protection regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019. Part 5 deals with transitional, consequential and miscellaneous considerations. Sections 51 to 60, inclusive, outline the processes and obligations around the dissolution of Science Foundation Ireland, including the transfer of staff, property, contracts, records, rights and liabilities of the dissolved body and arrangements for its final accounts and final annual report. References in enactments or instruments to the dissolved body are also dealt with here.

Sections 64 to 68, inclusive, deal with the transfer of staff, records, rights and liabilities from an t-údarás to the new agency. Section 69 provides for necessary amendments of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 to include references to the new agency and facilitate co-operation between an t-údarás and Taighde Éireann. Section 70 amends Schedule 5 to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to include Taighde Éireann in the list of specified bodies. Section 71 details the process for the service of notices from the agency.

Today's discussion is a chance to further make certain the provisions we are putting in place will build the foundation for an agency with the capacity to develop the research and innovation system we need and provide scope to support the development of the research and innovation system required by future generations. I welcome Senators' input today and as we work together towards Committee Stage of the Bill. Officials in my Department will be available to discuss any aspects of the Bill requiring further information or clarification.