Mary Moran (Labour)
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The Minister of State is always welcome in the House and I congratulate him on his work to date. I add my voice of welcome to the Euroscience Open Forum, ESOF, 2012 coming to Dublin. It is an exciting time. As the Minister of State mentioned, it is a boost and an opportunity for Ireland, as hosting it gives us substantial prestige. That nine out of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies and 11 out of its top 12 medical technology companies are based in Ireland shows how serious we are in this field.

ESOF 2012 will take place on 11 to 15 July during the school holidays. I have a teaching background. Have all schools been encouraged to take their students to the forum or advised them to attend? Were it to be held during the school term, busloads of students would attend. I hope they will be notified before the holidays rather than in September. Public relations can sometimes be important. Youth groups love to bring people to events such as this, but only if they know about them.

When I attended school, science as a subject was only offered to the top stream. Subjects were labelled depending on one's ability. Many students believe that science is a difficult subject. I brought some of my classes to the W5 science museum in Belfast. It always provides a fantastic experience and shows a different side of science. Science was one of my most difficult subjects in school and I went on to study music. Senator Barrett stated it was a question of crossing the divide, but I always avoided chemistry, physics and so on. I had a patient teacher. After I finished my music degree, I studied for a masters in music technology. Only then did I appreciate the link between music and the sciences, particularly in terms of psycho-acoustics. For the first time, I learned the real science behind the music. W5 houses an interactive harp that one plays by using laser beams.

There is fantastic assistive technology for the disabled, and the scientific world provides advantages for children or stroke-afflicted adults who have no voice, in that they are afforded the opportunity to communicate audibly through, for example, Soundbeam.

We have all attended school open days where food colouring changed mixtures and so on. We want to encourage science in this way. ESOF is a fantastic opportunity to do so, but let us get the word out there. We should all register. We could publish press releases and attract young people to the forum.

Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)
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May I raise a point of information?

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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We have the time, so the Senator might as well.

Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)
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When I mentioned collaborating with Sligo IT as champions, I should have stated also that the collaboration would be done in conjunction with the Sligo Education Centre. Education centres are vital to this work. I have spoken to them. I raise this point in the context of suggesting a model.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I thank Senators for their good wishes. There is always a great welcome in the Seanad.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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We are friendly people.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I do not want to sound patronising, but there is an eclectic knowledge in the House, given its economists, musicians, food technologists and educators. The debate is more lateral and sometimes more interesting.

Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)
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Can we put that on the record?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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We have all bought into the concept of ESOF and everyone acknowledges the positive role it can play. Given our aims for research and innovation, we need to be able to measure impacts more accurately. The prioritisation action group follows on from the research prioritisation exercise and was instigated by Mr. Jim O'Hara. It was concluded that the State would focus its research on 14 key areas to create the requisite economic impact without taking our foot off the pedal in terms of funding basic science education.

Through the action group, we are in the process of bringing all of the funders of research in this country to the table so that we can measure the impact of science, investment and outputs. We will move the conversation towards bringing science closer to industry so that our universities and institutes of technology will be able to create the types of Irish company we desire. This path has evolved from the situation to which Senator Power alluded and that obtained under previous Governments. Initial investment to build capacity came through the programme for research in third level institutions. We are moving into a phase of measuring impacts more accurately. This is a major challenge.

There has been a significant realisation of the fact that the scientific community has the wherewithal, human capital and skill set to be able to deliver for Ireland a tranche of new types of companies. We have not even begun to scratch the surface of what is possible. It is a question of mining people's creativity, but I do not know whether one can measure the bounds of that. There are boundless opportunities. The Government's job is to ensure we are either on the money or ahead of the curve in terms of realising those opportunities.

Senator O'Keeffe mentioned creativity. I met the Crafts Council of Ireland last month. Consider its creativity and products. If that creativity could be married with what is being produced in the Tyndall National Institute, our institutes of technology and so on, one could create the types of company we need.

It is significant that today Mr. James Whelton, a co-founder of CoderDojo, is in New York at the founders' conference. Along with Mr. Bill Liao he is rolling out programming courses to children outside of school settings on Saturday mornings in centres throughout the country. That is the type of platform we are creating but there is an inventory that has yet to be measured with the disparate initiatives happening around science, technology, engineering and maths, or STEM. Senator O'Keeffe has brought a new initiative to my attention and I hope I will be able to assist her and lend a hand if I can as a Minister of State. We must create the inventory of what exactly is going on with regard to STEM subjects so we can bring it together and co-ordinate those efforts. CoderDojo is one example but it only happens in certain geographical areas. We should see how we can replicate that across the system, which is required.

What is happening is inherently positive but it is quite disparate. My role as a Minister of State with responsibility for research and innovation is to try to map what we are doing and replicate it across the system. I do not want the Government to take control and become hierarchical, as much of it is an organic process of creativity. It will, by itself, create the type of jobs and enterprise we so badly need. Creating the inventory is important in assisting the various processes.

I have responsibility for the STEM subjects with my role in the Department of Education and Skills. We have moved to create a fund that will upskill out-of-field teachers on the mathematics side in particular. That will be done through the National Centre for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and Learning in the University of Limerick. It will have a vital impact in ensuring that the deficits that exist in STEM subjects will be addressed. It is only a first step.

I visited Finland lately and we had a very positive engagement with the Finns about their system. Our aim must be to move up the food chain. Senator Barrett made the point about mathematics teachers having a suitable qualification and that would not be lost on me. We should meanwhile ensure our teachers have the skill set and availability of continuing professional development that is vital to the system.

I am struck by the point made by Senator Power about boxer Katie Taylor. Arising from the suggestion, perhaps we could engage with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, in a way to try to introduce a short course in the junior certificate as a potential staging post for that kind of engagement. There should be no reason the NCCA cannot engage on the most blue sky thinking and how to roll this back to the education system. There may be a way to do this through the short courses on the junior cycle.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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There could be a review.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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That is one possibility. With regard to the public and political engagement with science, we are talking about an apolitical space, which I mentioned before. Professor Mark Ferguson, the new director of Science Foundation Ireland, has engaged with the Oireachtas through breakfast briefings. If there are specific ideas that must come from this forum, we should try to facilitate it. That is one idea. If a representative group from this House wanted to explore some of those possibilities, I would more than gladly meet those involved.

With regard to women and science, I attended the women and science event at the European Commission quite recently. I agree with Senator Power's comments. It is fascinating that the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, in UCD has a significant gender balance but when we move up the science food chain, we are more likely to find men in pinstripe suits. There must be a mechanism to allow greater involvement by women in key decision making programmes. How can a man like myself talk about this without sounding patronising? That is the other challenge. I can say I am from a generation of men with no issues of gender; my colleagues are female and if my boss is a woman, so be it. I do not know how to speak about this with authority except to say there are initiatives through programmes involving women in science and mathematics. There is the question of breaking the glass ceiling and if policy instruments or quotas can be used, and I do not know if that is possible. It is a conversation I am willing to have.

Senator Quinn referred to Watson and Crick and I am envious that Mr. James Watson is going to the Senator's house for dinner. I would love to be there. Senators Quinn and Barrett are correct in that we must create a space in this country for debate about issues like genetically modified organisms, nuclear fission and food security. In my constituency there is Teagasc at Moorepark, and there is a deep engagement, for example, between food science, the dairy industry and food technology through UCC and places like it. With regard to the Teagasc facility at Moorepark and elsewhere, I would very much like to create a space where Teagasc would have some degree of autonomy to try to spin out its own companies. That would create huge opportunities. I am scheduled to meet with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, to explore the possibilities.

Teagasc is an entity which faces enterprise and I know people like Mr. Paul Ross at Moorepark in Fermoy, who is part of a research cluster in UCC. There is an engagement through Moorepark Technology limited. I am not being too parochial about this but it is a microcosm of what is happening. Perhaps further possibilities should be explored around that and I hope to have further engagement on that also.

It is a key point that we do not know the amount of intellectual property that has been created through the decades or what is to come. That is why we created the intellectual property protocol and the idea of having a central technology transfer office. Every academic institution or research facility will be plugged into a technology transfer system and an intellectual property protocol, and that will at least give guidance to scientists, industry and the public with regard to funding of science and research.

Many other issues have been raised and I would be happy to engage further with Senators on those. I thank the Senators for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.