The Government's decision to freeze funding for third-level research has been criticised by the former Fine Gael leader and director general of the Institute of European Affairs, Mr Alan Dukes. The move was directly contrary to the needs of the State, Mr Dukes told a conference in Galway yesterday.
Already, new EU member-states were competing with Ireland for foreign direct investment in the areas of quality manufacturing and service provision, he told the conference on third-level education which was hosted by the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.
Ireland would now have to pioneer new products, services and applications, Mr Dukes said.
The role of government was to nurture a policy environment which supported enterprise, and which provided the tools to allow the enterprise community to succeed, he said. "The current freeze on the programme for research in third-level institutions bodes ill," Mr Dukes said.