Madam, – In response to Ed Forde (May 6th), we wish to correct a series of inaccuracies and also to take issue with the irresponsible language he employs to described Ireland’s research infrastructure and frontline researchers.
Science Foundation Ireland’s funding budget for this year is €161 million, not €300 million as Dr Forde states. This amount goes directly towards running programmes for research teams working across Ireland’s ICT, life sciences and energy sectors. Applications for funding from researchers, without exception, undergo rigorous international peer review.
Dr Forde’s contention that projects stemming from this “go mainly nowhere” is a nonsense. It is also an insult to researchers who, over the past decade, have been instrumental in dramatically raising Ireland’s scientific and technological reputation. It is as a direct result of SFI and other investment in our best researchers – and in attracting top researchers from overseas to base their activities here – that Ireland has broken into the Top 20 country rankings for scientific research quality. Top 10 placements have been achieved in particular fields such as immunology and materials science. These are facts, and they represent a significant attractant for prospective foreign direct investment. SFI researchers now have linkages with over 500 companies. Furthermore, just five years ago less than 10 per cent of projects overseen by IDA Ireland were RD-based. This has now risen to 50 per cent of inward investment projects in Ireland today.
The need to monitor and evaluate how funding is administered is of paramount importance. The Government-appointed Research Prioritisation Steering Group, led by ex-Intel Ireland general manager Jim O’Hara, is currently identifying research areas of greatest potential, and SFI, together with other agencies, is actively engaged in this initiative.
That his letter appeared in the same Irish Times edition that revealed that Opsona Therapeutics, a company established by SFI-supported researchers in TCD, has secured almost €6 million of European Commission seventh framework programme funding (and multiples of that in venture capital funding) and begins phase one safety trials this summer, is an irony that should not be lost on Dr Forde. – Yours, etc,
