Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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753. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how the board will be appointed to the new research body that is a merger of the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland; how funds will be allocated across disciplines and between blue-sky/fundamental research and targeted programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22725/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Heads of Bill provide that the new agency will have a board consisting of 12 members, including a chair, and that all appointments will be made by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Careful consideration is being given to the competencies needed for the board, and the Department is seeking and listening to the views of stakeholders, as well as interested in the seeing the outcomes of the PLS process, on this matter. It will be important to strike a balance to ensure the Board reflects the diversity of the research and innovation community, and also meets its obligations as a state agency.

Members of the board will ultimately be selected through a transparent Public Appointments Service process, thereby ensuring the board will consist of persons who have sufficient experience and expertise relating to matters connected with the functions of the new agency to enable them to make a substantial contribution to the effective and efficient performance of those functions. In essence, all board members will require extensive research competency.

It is also provided that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment shall nominate one member to the board and that there will be gender balance among board members. Members may not serve more than two consecutive terms of office, up to a maximum of eight years. The agency will be compliant with the Code of Practice for State Bodies and the Guidelines for Appointment to State Boards.

In terms of the allocation of funding, this is a matter that will be given consideration as part of the operational design of the agency. The General Scheme of the Research and Innovation Bill forms part of Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy, the objectives of which include the promotion and support of excellence in research and innovation across all disciplines, spanning fundamental research to applied research activity. It also seeks to promote and support the contribution of all such research and innovation to Ireland’s economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability, as well as strengthen the engagement between the research and innovation system and enterprise, Government and public bodies, the voluntary sector and society.