Capital funding for third-level research should be restored immediately, according to a report on the future of the biotechnology industry.
The report, by economic consultants Peter Bacon and Associates, calls on the Government to make an "unambiguous statement of long-term commitment" to the public funding of science, and biotechnology in particular.
Such a commitment, it says, would dispel the "growing uncertainty about the future funding of science in Ireland".
Capital funding under the Programme for Research in Third- Level Institutions (PRTLI) was "paused" by the Government in last year's Estimates.
The report, however, says it is clear from international experience that the public provision of funds for research is "a key prerequisite for the development of a dynamic and sustainable biotechnology industry".
Good progress, it says, has been made by the Science Foundation Ireland in attracting leading international research scientists to the country.
"However, there is a real danger that these scientists will leave once their initial contracts have expired."
As one of the measures required to address this, it recommends that capital funding under the PRTLI be "restored immediately".
The report, published yesterday by Forfás, was commissioned by the expert group on future skills needs.
The group, which includes Government, industry, employer, union and State agency representatives, was set up by the Government to develop strategies in the area of skills and manpower needs.
The report says Ireland is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated rapid growth in biotechnology worldwide over the next seven years.
"Ireland has put in place the foundations necessary for the development of a competitive biotech industry," it points out.
"A result is the decision by Wyeth to invest more than $1 billion to expand its production facilities in Ireland with the construction of a multi-product biopharmaceutical campus at Grange Castle, Clondalkin."
Despite this success story, the report highlights a range of potential skills shortages in the absence of Government action to address them.
It "strongly" endorses the recommendations of the task force on physical sciences, which aim to increase the numbers studying science and engineering in schools.
It says these recommendations "should be implemented in full, with immediate effect".
It also proposes that students should be recruited from abroad to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at Irish third-level institutions in order to boost the supply of science-related skills.
Launching the report, Dr Danny O'Hare, chairman of the expert group on future skills needs, said the European Commission had estimated that the market for biotechnology products in Europe alone could be worth €100 billion by 2005.
