TEACHERS PET:Everyone was anxious to accentuate the postive when researchers gathered to celebrate 10 years of the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) at Trinity's Science Gallery late last week.
But there was no hiding the acute sense of disappointment that Minister Batt O'Keeffe did not come bearing gifts. There had been an expectation that Batt - and Taoiseach Brian Cowen - would finally announce the next PRTLI cycle, worth at least €300 million.
But the Taoiseach, who was on official business in Finland, could not attend and Batt held off on the good news. Broadly, Batt told researchers that the cheque would be in the post; the next tranche of funding would be incorporated in the forthcoming economic revival package.
O'Keeffe stressed there was no uncertainty about future funding; the Government was firmly committed to research funding. But more than one third-level figure seemed unsettled by the continuing delay. The funding was due to be announced in August - and we are still waiting.
That said, the decision to further postpone any announcement was an adroit piece of press relations. How would the rest of the education community respond to a high- profile investment of €400 million in the universities and the institutes of technology?
You can imagine how it might play at a time when department inspectors are checking for rats in a Galway school. And when the INTO has successfully mobilised tens of thousands to protest against the Budget's education cutbacks.
From the Minister's perspective, it makes far more sense to wrap research funding in the overall economic package during these troubled times.
• A word of praise for the Royal Irish Academy whose books are setting new standards in terms of design and layout.
The use of archive documentation - and support from Mary Hanafin - helped to makes Diarmuid Ferriter's Judging Devone of the most classroom-friendly texts. It also sold close to 25,000 copies.
The RIA's handsome new book on Irish experiences of the First world war, Our War, will also be hugely popular in schools.
