Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Professor Carey. We should have this debate as Gaeilge as well. I worked specifically on promoting funding programmes within SFI so I know a lot about the accessibility of some of these programmes, how we promote them, how we engaged researchers from a broad background and how we were one of the first agencies many years ago to do online Teams-type events and activities to ensure we could reach the maximum number of people in all ways either in person where research offices would be delivering information to researchers or the agency itself taking on that role and delivering that information. This will only continue. I can only imagine the types of ways it is engaging with researchers across the country, particularly in our new technological universities.

Regarding just transition, as has been mentioned by Senator Higgins, if I could be in two places at once, a very good meeting on just transition and the funding available for communities with regard to developing their local areas is happening now in Ballinasloe. I know of a cycleway plan where more than €1 million was received. Again, it was a community group that got that funding so I would argue that particular point.

This Government has put the arts, humanities and social sciences on a statutory footing that did not exist before through this new agency so I welcome this. I welcome the fact that this agency will put this on a secure footing. It shows that there is very much a balance across the type of areas and all research areas that we will be looking to fund under Taighde Éireann. Above all, we will be funding excellence. Excellence across these areas is what we want to see. We want to see this with our researchers and we are seeing it already.

When it comes to our researchers and the type of research that is done, it is about accessing international funding as well. This is thanks to funding partnerships that are done across a lot of these agencies. Those type of funding mechanisms are for potentially three, four or five years. Many researchers in Ireland come from abroad and we are very lucky to have them. We are very fortunate to have that excellence. They might stay. They stay and become principal investigators and may run centres. We are very fortunate to have that. Taighde Éireann is about making sure that we go into the future having all of our areas of research on a statutory footing, which is what this agency sets out to do. I acknowledge the goal and vision of the Taoiseach in his former role as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and officials within the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and Government as a whole, which is what we want to see here.