Ireland "has actually got a lot of things right" in terms of economic planning over the last decade, Ireland's new EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has said.
Speaking in NUI Galway today, where she delivered her first keynote speech in Ireland, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said that it was "easy to forget " Ireland's strong track record of "sustained strategic investment in research and education".
"This will stand it in good stead now as it seeks to emerge from the crisis and ensure a durable recovery," Commissioner Quinn said, while also warning that research and development budgets should not be cut back.
Two days ago, the European Commission told the Government that its projections for correcting the economy were too optimistic and that cuts might have to be more severe than planned. It also called on Ireland to set out in detail the economic measures it proposes to take in coming years.
The EU Commissioner said that there was a "huge commonality between the smart economy approach adopted by the Irish Government at the end of 2008 and the Europe 2020 strategy, not least the focus on research and innovation and environmental sustainability".
While she said that she was not blind to the difficulties being faced, she was convinced that Europe had the right assets to overcome the current difficulties. "In times of crisis, those of us in public life have a public duty to optimism", she said.
She said that her task was to transform Europe into "a really vibrant innovation economy", or "i-conomy".
She is preparing a new research and innovation plan, with a deadline of September, and she said that her priorities would include the "grand challenges" facing society -climate change, energy and food security and improving the well-being of an ageing population.
She sais she was very supportive of a target investment of three per cent of EU gross domestic product in research and development.
"I am worried that, with budgets under pressure, governments may view research and development as an easy area for cutbacks. This would be completely the wrong reaction", she said.
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn is also due to speak at an ocean technology conference in the Marine Institute's headquarters in Galway on Monday.
Welcoming the commissioner to NUIG, the university president Dr Jim Browne said that the former Fianna Fáil minister was also a former member of the governing authority of the college.
Dr Browne said that he was "certain that the pioneering spirit she has demonstrated throughout her political life will help chart the course ahead".