What now for Ireland’s EU Commissioner for research?

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn's tenure as EU Commissioner for research draws to a close in the next few months – if the new commission president Jean-Claude Juncker manages to push through his new team.

When it finally ends, she will have completed a five-year stint in office during which time the EU agreed its €70 billion Horizon 2020 research budget. The question for many now is what does she plan to do next?

She remains under retirement age but that is not an issue if she chooses to go back into national politics. Many departing commissioners look for a safe berth in Strasbourg by seeking election as an MEP, but she has not seemed tempted by this option. She could also consider any offers arising within the EU’s wider structures along the lines of her years in the Court of Auditors, a position she held before becoming a commissioner.

If job offers do arise, those proposing them will also be cognisant of her record and contribution while holding the important research portfolio. There have been mixed reviews about her performance during that time, however.

Some point to the delivery of an agreement on Horizon 2020 – moved along after a hurried round of final negotiations during the Irish Presidency – ranking as a major achievement. But detractors suggest that the budget would have been delivered in any case and a substantial increase in its size was always on the cards no matter who held the commissionership.

Clearly there were issues she decided to grab with two hands in an attempt to progress them. One was a simplification of the rules for applications for research funding, making it easier for scientists with good ideas to get through the process. She is a supporter of, and helped to, progress open access to research data, something that is now standard procedure when in receipt of Horizon 2020 funding.

She was also a campaigner when it came to gender equality – or at least an attempt to pursue something like equality given the difficulty of achieving it.

Detractors in Brussels – who carry no whiff of Irish parish-pump politicking – view her in a different light. She had little or no impact on the global scientific community and sailed through her commissionership leaving little or no wake to mark her passing, they argue. "She hasn't been controversial for good reason or bad," one said. "She just wasn't engaged."

All agree she is interested and engaging when out, she remembers names and presses the flesh at the engagements she attends. She comes across as completely genuine, likeable and engaged with the science brief, but this is not enough for some. “She did not deliver a single memorable keynote address in her five years in office,” one commentator said.

Her supporters are more inclined to comment on how well Ireland has done in winning research funding through the Framework Programme 7 budget. Money is still being allocated to winning projects as the remains of its budget are committed to applications still being processed. The Government had set a target of €600 million for Irish researchers to chase and this is just about to be achieved, a remarkable accomplishment given the FP6 drawdown for Irish participants was just €200 million.

The Framework Programmes have a seven-year lifetime and so much of FP7 played out while Geoghegan-Quinn held office. The question is how much of this success derived from her tenure? Certainly, Enterprise Ireland led the charge in encouraging scientists to apply and provided support systems and services to make applications more likely to succeed. The FP7 office headed by Imelda Lambkin led this effort and has now carried it forward into Horizon 2020. The Commissioner, on her trips back to Galway, also used these opportunities to encourage Irish participation in the EU's various funding schemes. There is no data, however, to show how much credit she might be able to claim on this front.

Supporters do say, however, that she helped to move research and innovation forward to become a key component of EU economic policy. She held the line on targeting a 3 per cent of GDP investment in research for all community members. Supporting wider issues in innovation and commercialisation of research was another plus, for example, reducing the complexity of patenting and making it easier for venture capitalists to engage with EU innovators.

One interesting question that will likely be answered as she heads for Galway after leaving DG research is what will happen with her Irish pension, reportedly worth €104,000 a year? It became a matter of contention at the time, given that initially she was ready to draw down this entitlement – which was perfectly within her rights – while also in receipt of a commissioner’s pay. In the end, her commissionership opened with her suspending her Irish pension, so it may end with its resumption.