IT is hard to think of anything today that has more impact on our lives than science and technology. Think of the current crises regarding BSE and hepatitis C, the ethical dilemmas posed by developments in genetics, the need for an innovative industry if the economy is to continue improving, the way the Internet has introduced the Information Society.

So you might expect there would be a national policy on science and technology. Yet it is 30 years since the State reviewed its science policy. That was in the halcyon days of the 1960s when science was "a good thing": the Research and Technology Survey Team produced the first policy review, the National Science Council (long since disbanded) was established, and the then Minister for Finance, Charlie Haughey, said that to neglect research was to condemn the country's industry to obsolescence.

After that, science seemed to fall - off the political agenda. In any other area, this would probably have led to a public outcry. You only have to think of how vociferous the arts community is, or of the recent clamour for a 50 metre swimming pool.

Somehow science gets overlooked, perhaps because Ireland has no military research programme. In Britain and the US, for example, where the military accounts for half of all research, the scientific budget is a major political and financial item, and there is a scientifically literate civil service and media.

HERE, by contrast, science has a low public and political profile. There has never a full science minister, there are no Cabinet or all party science committees, and the Department of Finance, which holds the purse strings, is said to be hostile (or, at best, indifferent) when it comes to science.

Some blame must surely rest with the scientists. Most prefer to stay in their labs and, if they do emerge, as they have a little in recent years, it is usually to complain about finding. Unless you know a scientist personally, you will probably have little idea of what's involved in research, or of what's been happening in Irish and international science.

But all this could be about to change. A campaign to promote public awareness of science and technology was announced yesterday by Forfas, and the long awaited Government White Paper on science and technology policy is expected soon.

It comes at an important time: technologically, socially (developments are already outstripping our ability to deal with them legally and ethically), politically and financially (we have relied heavily on the EU to support Irish science, but the structural funds run out in 1998).

The document, prepared under the auspices of the Office of Science and Technology (OST) at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, is already written, and the various Government Departments have made their comments.

The Minister of State for Commerce and Technology, Pat Rabbitte, can now take it to Cabinet. If and when it's approved there, it will be published.

IT has taken almost three years to produce what will be only the State's second science policy document The long process began in 1993 with a major outcry against cuts in research funding. In February 1994 Seamus Brennan, then Minister for Commerce and Technology, responded by appointing an independent review group, the Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (STIAC).

Its report, published in March 1995, made 160 recommendations that would cost £360 million to implement. It called for a "national innovation system", a science council, an annual review of science policy, a programme to promote public awareness of science and extra funding for all research programmes, among many other things.

Although described at the time as - "a draft White Paper" it was, if anything, more like a wish list that promised something for everyone.

Throughout last year, the STIAC report was assessed by a task force comprising the many Government Departments that are touched by science and technology, everything from health and environment to justice and education. The task force reported late last year on the feasibility of the various measures, and a quick Government response, a White Paper, was promised for early this year.

Twelve months of silence followed, though they have, in fairness, seen a few small changes, notably a special million extra allocation to science in this year's Budget, as well as a variety of new tax measures to encourage innovation and the public awareness campaign which will be unveiled this week.

But there were growing complaints: that the STIAC report was gathering dust, that the promised White Paper would not be published, that science had again fallen off the political agenda.

The delay in producing the White Paper has been attributed to a variety of causes: the problems of pulling together policy for an area that spans so many Departments; the small size of the Minister's OST, which has also had to prepare for Ireland's EU Presidency; the need to reach a compromise agreement on some of the administrative changes being proposed; and the crisis at Packard Electric in Mr Rabitte's constituency.

More significantly, it now seems that the original STIAC report is no longer viewed as a draft White Paper. The word is that the new policy document will not be STIAC's thinking, nor even the Government's response to the STIAC report, but a fresh policy.

This week, in place of criticism, there is something of a turn about: quiet optimism among scientists about the coming White Paper, and genuine admiration for the Minister. Mr Rabbitte is, they say, intensely committed to science. He won an extra £4 million at a difficult time last spring, and if he has taken his time over the White Paper, we now see that it is because science policy requires a patient long term view.

The long delay means, however, there is now increased pressure on Mr Rabbitte both to deliver a comprehensive policy document and to convince the powers that be in Finance to provide the wherewithal to make that policy happen. The forthcoming White Paper comes at the end of a long wait, but it is only the start of the process. {CORRECTION} 96100900111