Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address the funding partnerships briefly. There are some excellent partnerships in place already. For example, I mentioned previously the US-Ireland partnership. These are international level partnerships across the world. This one I am referencing is with the United States. It links with the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation as well as universities in Northern Ireland, which brings in the UK. It also brings in a lot of universities in the Republic of Ireland. It is important, going forward, that we see Taighde Éireann embracing new partnerships. We need to see that as part of what we are doing.

As for the implementation of the Athena SWAN charter, that is something a lot of Irish universities have put in place and it has been very welcome. I highlight again the importance of that funding coming from different countries across the world. They allocate funding either through their exchequers or funding agencies, but there can also be partnerships with other groups such as non-profit groups or charity and social enterprise groups. We must be conscious not to limit the scope of these partnerships within this new agency.