Abandoning proposed science centre would be a backward leap

Sir, - Judging by your recent editorial, it is beginning to look like the proposed science centre is a solution in search of a problem rather than an opportunity to be fostered (“The Irish Times view on the Children’s Science Centre: halt this fiasco”, Editorial, April 29th).

The working group of the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, which I chaired, made the proposal for a science centre some time ago. The proposal was made, in part, because of the evolution of such centres over the previous 50 years in developed and developing countries. The working group was also guided by the need in Ireland to promote science, which has been neglected for at least a generation.

The expert team that proposed the establishment of a science centre were convinced of the need for such a facility. This need has greatly increased in the meantime. Opponents have recently argued, in an extraordinary leap of imagination, that the investment in science centres might jeopardise our flood protection programme.

We now inhabit a reality in which our much-lauded economy is greatly dependent on a handful of US multinationals rather than on our own development. Surely your esteemed publication should be on the side of fulfilling the proposal rather than throwing in the towel on a project that needs to be organised and funded by a Government that seems to have ample funds. - Yours, etc,