Government spending in the key area of scientific research falls well below other states, according to an international assessment committee. Seán Flynn, Education Editor, reports.
In a report for the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the group says the Republic is still playing "catch-up" in the research area, despite the rhetoric about a cutting-edge knowledge economy.
The report, due to be published shortly, criticises the Government's on-off commitment to scientific research, which has undermined confidence in Irish research activities and made it more difficult to recruit top researchers.
It also says there is a marked lack of coherence in the allocation of spending, which "threatens the whole research edifice" if it is not attended to.
Given the importance of research to the economy, it proposes that the Taoiseach should chair a group located in his Department that would supervise research spending.
The research team found that some €39 million was available in research grants and contract income to Trinity College in 2002. But this compared with €140 million for Edinburgh University in Scotland and €165 million for the University of Helsinki in Finland.
There is, it says, "still much to be done to optimise the development of a knowledge-based Irish society", despite the considerable investment in recent years.
The International Assessment Committee examined the impact of the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions (PRTLI). In the past five years, over €600 million has been approved by the programme, which is designed to build "internationally competitive" research centres in third-level colleges.
In its key finding, the assessment team found that "investment in the PRTLI is fully justified and should be continued" for another decade at least.
It is critical of the Government's decision to impose a year-long "pause" in funding last year. The Government later rescinded this decision.
The new report says the pause damaged international confidence in Irish research projects.
The report, while largely positive in its assessment of the PRTLI, says colleges "must pay greater attention to the commercial and business potential of investments made" under the programme.
It favours greater coherence in fund allocation from the PRTLI and Science Foundation Ireland, the group which supports the work of top researchers in Irish colleges.
Of the €600 million-plus allocated under the programme, three universities have secured more than €100 million. These are UCC (€123 million), UCD (€111 million) and TCD (€109 million).
In other areas, the report is lavish in its praise for the operation of the PRTLI, which it calls a "unique and far-sighted" initiative that will help produce highly skilled personnel.
The review was chaired by Prof Enric Banda, a former secretary general of the European Science Foundation.