THE long awaited Government White Paper on national science policy is now expected by the end of this month. The Minister of State for Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte, told The Irish Times yesterday that the three week process of seeking Cabinet approval for the proposed measures had already begun.
The Minister was speaking at the launch in Dublin of a new scientific research programme aimed at combating the international drugs problem. Irish scientists are being asked to suggest ways in which science and technology can be used to identify and track drugs, including the possibility of using satellite systems to detect cannabis bales in the sea off the west coast, designing new sniffer devices to detect drugs hidden in containers, and new ways of "fingerprinting" drugs to identify their original source.
If the White Paper is published this month, it will mark the end of a long process that began 30 months ago, when a previous minister, Mr Seamus Brennan, appointed a review group to draft a policy document. The STIAC, or Tierney report, published in March, 1995, made almost 150 recommendations covering everything from research to education and public awareness, with a battery of measures aimed at creating an innovative culture in Ireland.
These recommendations were studied by a task force under the Forfas chief executive, Mr John Travers, which presented its recommendations a year ago. Since then, a special ministerial committee has been considering the issues.
However, Mr Rabbitte yesterday denied that the reports had been gathering dust". He was replying to criticism from the Irish Research Scientists' Association (IRSA) which said that Irish science and innovation continued to suffer while successive governments have poured large sums of money on an ad hoc basis into arts festivals, the GAA, Dublin Zoo, horse racing, and so on".
The promised White Paper is expected to cover funding for scientific research, the structures needed to establish a national system of innovation, links between industry and academia, and a new programme to promote public awareness of science and technology.
In the interim, the Minister introduced a small number of measures from among those recommended in the Tierney report 18 months ago, including a £2 million increase in scientific research funding, as well as a new board to oversee State funding of research and add a note of transparency to the proceedings.
That board published its first annual report yesterday. Funding for research this year, at almost £7 million, was one third up on the 1995 allocation. Among the programmes that benefited from the increases were basic research (where some 30 per cent more projects were approved this year), and the grants made to PhD students, which doubled in value this year to £2,000 a year.
The report also details two new programmes which started this year: a £250,000 scheme to help Irish researchers to establish collaborations with scientists abroad (over 90 per cent of the 72 applicants won funding); and for the first time ever, a £200,000 programme to fund post doctoral fellows over a two year period.
The post doctoral scheme, begun to mark Ireland's Presidency of the EU, was hugely over subscribed, with some 100 applicants chasing 10 places. However, the Minister announced yesterday that the scheme would continue next year.
The drugs research programme is also being instituted as part of Ireland's presidency programme. It is expected that the £0.5 million programme will fund 10 projects over the coming two years. The closing date for applications is October 18th.