Sir, – It is hugely disappointing that our new Government will contain neither a minister nor a junior minister with a recognised responsibility for science. There is barely a mention of science in the new programme for government and no mention at all of the vaunted Innovation 2020 strategy for developing the sector. One can only hope that it will still be implemented, though the lack of any visible person to lead these efforts is not encouraging.
Meanwhile, our universities have been allowed to go into freefall, following deep and sustained cuts over many years, which have seriously degraded the educational experience we can provide to students.
Practically every other European country has a ministry with combined responsibility for higher education, science and research. The same is true of Japan, South Korea, China, Israel, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There are similar ministries in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia; in fact, every country I checked.
The Royal Irish Academy has issued a policy paper calling for such a ministry to be established here. This would recognise the vital role that higher education and research play in our society and our economy and enable a concerted strategy to be developed for this sector. If we do not take the knowledge part of our supposed knowledge economy seriously, no one else will either. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN MITCHELL, PhD
Associate Professor
of Genetics,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.