A PERMANENT Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council, representative of wide-ranging interests, will be appointed within a month, the Minister of State, Mr Pat Rabbitte, announced yesterday.
At a press conference to publicise the first White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Rabbitte said the White Paper would be debated in the Dail at a date to be fixed.
The Government's decision to establish an inter-departmental committee to work with the existing, Cabinet committee for science and technology was most important, he indicated, to ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to the design, delivery and evaluation of ETI policies and programmes.
These committees would review the spending trends of individual Departments and would submit their views to Government to coincide with the annual Estimates and Budget cycle.
Mr Rabbitte said State expenditure on science and technology-related activities would amount to £780 million in 1996. That spending was in large measure input-driven, investing in equipment, buildings, personnel and other matters. It was also allocated by 12 Departments and some 34 agencies.
The calculation of the total spend was an exercise carried out after the individual Departments had separately decided on their internal appropriations.
Asked if it was wise for the White Paper to concentrate on administrative structures rather than setting targets for science and technology, the Minister said he was a bit doubtful about the capacity of the system at the moment to set targets. Their aim was to set down a framework which would determine the evolution of policy and targets in the future.
He confirmed that he would be looking for more money in the Estimates process "but with very particular objectives in mind".
Asked if the Taoiseach would chair the Cabinet sub-committee, Mr Rabbitte said the members of that committee were the Ministers for Agriculture, Education, Employment and Enterprise and Marine. The committee would be chaired by himself. They had left it open for Mr Bruton to chair the final session.
