The Government should create a trust fund that would support scientific research in perpetuity, according to the representative body for scientists. A fund of €250 million would provide research support no matter what happened to the public purse.
The Irish Research Scientists' Association (IRSA) had long advocated this method of State support for science, said Dr Edmond Magner, a research scientist at the University of Limerick and an executive committee member of the association.
He said the current downturn in the Republic's economic fortunes showed that some way must be found to protect State spending for research, an investment that in the long-term could help produce jobs.The fund's protected capital base would provide a steady return on investment no matter what happened to the State's year-on-year finances.
The IRSA had put this proposal to Government officials, and this week will meet the Higher Education Authority to discuss the issue. It suggests initial seed capital of €250 million, perhaps coming from the proceeds of State company privatisations. This would be added to annually, allowing the fund to grow and the resultant return for research activities to increase over time.
The fund would be in good company, Dr Magner said. The Wellcome Trust was the single largest source of funding for medical research in the UK. The Howard Hughes Research Institute played a similar role in the US, where there were dozens of other private funding trusts.
He said countries of a similar size to the Republic had created funds. The Danish Research Foundation was created in 1991 with seed capital of about €190 million. Income was sufficient to fund 37 centres of excellence in science and the arts.
Norway created a research and innovation trust in 1999 with €385 million funded through the sale of state shares. Brazil established the research foundation FAPESP in 1962, which was guaranteed an annual 1 per cent share of all the taxes collected by the state.
"If other countries have observed the need and established research foundations, why do we not have one?" Dr Magner asked.
Further State asset sales would present further opportunities. "Such a fund would benefit the entire country and continue to do so in perpetuity," he said.
"In addition, companies should be encouraged to contribute to the fund." They could do so if donations were allowable against tax as "incremental expenditure on research".