The Government is to proceed with severe cutbacks in research funding to the universities, in a move which has provoked a furious response from the third-level sector, write Seán Flynn and Dick Ahlstrom.
The Irish Times has learnt that university presidents are seeking urgent meetings with the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, and with the Higher Education Authority to consider what they call "this highly disturbing development".
Some €150 million needed to buy laboratory space and equipment will not now be paid this year. The move comes despite the Government's repeated mantra that investment in research is crucial for the Republic's economic progress.
The cutbacks mean that five universities and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland face a situation where they have money for staff but no extra laboratories and no new money for specialist equipment.
The move will also affect a range of teaching facilities unrelated to the science budget. This includes training for nurses and therapists.
The scale of the cutbacks was set out in a confidential letter from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to the universities.
In the letter, Mr John Hayden, the HEA chief executive, writes: "I regret very much that this situation has arisen and fully appreciate the serious implications it has for the university."
The cutbacks are in the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI), a programme run by the HEA on behalf of the Department of Education and Science.
The colleges which will be severely affected by the cutbacks include TCD, UCD, UCC, DCU, NUI Galway and the Royal College of Surgeons.
The first inkling of cutbacks in the research funding for PRTLI came during the Estimates last year when a "pause" was imposed on the latest round of funding.
The Department of Education and Science has always maintained that the pause was "temporary" but it could never provide a date for resumption of funding. Mr Hayden's letter this week appears to signal that the uncertainty over funding will continue "in 2004 and later years".
Schools of nursing being built at some of the universities are among the elements covered by the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions. This means that some projects cannot now continue, including training facilities for nurses, occupational and speech therapists and social workers.
The Department of Education said last night that "all projects not contractually committed have to be prioritised due to the current financial situation".
It was prudent, it said, to "access overall priorities in a tight financial situation".
The colleges are particularly annoyed because about half of the €150 million required to fund the current research cycle is available from the private sector and other sources.
In a statement last night to The Irish Times, the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU), the group which represents seven university presidents, said: "CHIU regrets very much that priority buildings, some of them funded substantially by private monies and by the Department of Health, will not now be allowed to proceed as designed.
"CHIU is also very concerned that no way has yet been found to advance the strategically important projects" of the latest research rounds.
The HEA's letter to the colleges states: "It had been our understanding . . . that certain priority projects might be advanced under the revised Estimates provision for 2003.
"However, we have now been advised by the Department of Education and Science that all projects which are not contractually committed on November 14th, 2002 are to be deferred, pending the outcome of the capital review and/or the publication of the Estimates for 2004."