Ireland secures research portfolio

IRELAND’S new and first women European Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan Quinn, got the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio the Government has lobbied for over the past few months.

Responsible for close to a quarter of the total Commission staff, her brief covers the EU’s massive research budget of €58 billion, one of the world’s biggest scientific research centres and a range of bodies to encourage innovation especially among SMEs.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen welcomed the announcement by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels yesterday saying it would reaffirm Ireland’s commitment to a smart economy.

Negotiations on the make up of the Commission continued until late on Thursday night as countries jockeyed for different jobs for their nominees and at one stage it looked as though Ireland was in line for the agriculture job.

Making the announcement yesterday, Barroso expressed his confidence in Geoghegan Quinn for the research and innovation job – one of the main drivers behind his 10-year EU2020 strategy to create jobs and develop Europe’s economies.

“I hope this will be very well received in Ireland because I know of the country’s commitment to this economy of the future, to a knowledge based economy ... we need her competence for this agenda,” he said, adding that innovation was central to the EU’s economic future.

This is the first time that research and innovation have been brought together and Barroso said he believes they should help drive growth and help the EU compete with China and India and other economies.

Up to now it has not been seen as a very important portfolio but with member states insistent that more of the EU’s budget goes into job creation and research, it is gaining in weight, but seen to be a challenging job.

Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said research and innovation were of crucial importance for Ireland and Europe’s economic future. “The Government’s strategy for building Ireland’s Smart Economy aims to make Ireland an innovation and commercialisation hub in Europe” he said.

IBEC’s Brendan Butler, representing Irish business, said: “The appointment will ensure that Ireland will play a key role in influencing both current and futureresearch priorities and funding for the entire EU.”

The portfolio will be good for Ireland’s image as a forward looking country but even though the country hosts many cutting-edge companies including Apple, Google and Intel and is on line to win €600m in research grants from the EU’s budget, it has so far failed to make the kind of breaks seen in Finland for instance.

The former Fianna Fáil justice minister was not in Brussels for the announcement, as she will continue her role as Ireland’s member of the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg.