The modern version of the traditional science museum is called an interactive science centre. Ireland is one of the very few countries in the developed world which does not have a major science centre.
Science centres are of great scientific, educational, cultural and tourist-amenity value and Ireland is at an undoubted disadvantage. However, a proposal from the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (ICSTI) to establish a major science centre is now before the Government and I hope the proposal will be speedily accepted.
Science centres worldwide attract about 250 million visitors a year. There are over 100 science centres in Europe, including about 20 in the UK. A major new science centre called W5 was opened in Belfast earlier this year. Although the Republic has no major science centres, several smaller centres with local or single themes have been built, including historic science centres at Birr Castle and at NUI Maynooth, and a visitor centre at Dunsink Observatory. University College Cork plans to renovate the telescopes and conserve the building of the Crawford Observatory and make the observatory accessible.
Traditional science museums house permanent displays that illustrate the history of science and technology, and displays designed to educate the public about the principles and various aspects of science. The modern science centre also employs this traditional approach but also has exhibits designed to attract, excite and educate people about science through the use of an interactive format.
The idea is to entertain as well as to educate. It is hoped that this approach will make people comfortable with science, appreciate the contribution of science to social and economic development, stimulate young people to study science, and foster debate.
The history of Ireland in the 20th century under our own governance has not, until recently, been very supportive of science and technology. The British administration introduced science into our primary schools in 1900, but this was later dropped by our own government in 1934. Thankfully, science is now being phased back into the primary curriculum.
Ireland has committed itself to developing a "knowledge-based" economy and an "information society", yet it is the only member-state of the EU not to have a major science centre. This is sending the wrong message to the wider world, which is used to viewing our culture as typically defined by archaeological, mythical, musical and literary heritage. Ireland also has a fine scientific heritage that is largely unknown and unappreciated by the public.
The establishment of a major science centre here would go a long way to change the traditional perception of Ireland both at home and abroad as a culture that doesn't value science highly.
The programmes of the new centre would be designed to have broad popular appeal, to cater for already developed tastes and to be particularly appealing to young people.
Until now Ireland has scarcely catered at all for the "science-tourist". Surveys have shown that many tourists, already familiar with science centres elsewhere, will visit a science centre in a new country in the expectation of a different experience.
I can personally testify to the powerful attraction science centres have for the young, having taken my two children to several science centres abroad over the years, including the wonderful Cite des Sciences in Paris and the New Metropolis in Amsterdam. A word of warning, however - interactive exhibits must be extremely durable and well maintained because they have to withstand an onslaught of constant use, some of it inevitably rather rough.
We visited the New Metropolis in Amsterdam soon after it opened and even then several exhibits were very much the worse for wear. Nothing will excite a child faster than a well designed working exhibition, but nothing will turn a child off faster than an interactive exhibit that doesn't work.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, announced her intention to proceed with plans for a major Irish science centre during a recent visit to China. The plan was to establish a three-part centre, with the major hub in Dublin and two regional centres in Cork and Galway. This would put a science centre within one to two hours' drive for more than 90 per cent of the population.
I congratulate Ms Harney on her vision and I urge the Government to approve the ICSTI proposal and to proceed with all haste.
(William Reville is a senior lecturer in biochemistry and director of microscopy at UCC.)