More accountability and monitoring of Ireland's €1.2 billion research budget is needed, a leading American expert has said.
The unprecedented spending on third level research between now and 2006 needs to be carefully assessed and the taxpayer needs to know they are getting value for money, said Prof Irwin Feller, a leading authority from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He also warned that more co-ordination between the two largest research bodies, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) was needed or else they could end up "competing for modest budgets". He said a "co-ordinating body", possibly a Cabinet sub-committee, was needed to drive policy in the research area and monitor performance.
He was speaking at a conference on research organised by the HEA. He said the best way for the public to get value from the research being carried out, was for strong links to be set up between industry and the HEA and SFI.
"I have been very impressed by the research set up here, it is very coherent and very relevant. Ireland has come a long way. But Ireland, it seems to me, needs to take the next step forward by embracing more linkages with industry and increasing the level of accountability," he said.
The way accountability was achieved was crucial, he said. Mistakes had been made elsewhere, in one country the number of publications produced was the measurement used. But nobody seemed to be monitoring the quality of the work, he said.
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, agreed with Prof Feller that an oversight body "at the heart of Government" was needed to drive the research project forward.
At present, projects funded by SFI and HEA go through intensive peer review.