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Ireland’s tradition of producing world-changing inventors and scientists should serve as inspiration for a new generation of researchers, Innovation Minister James Lawless has said.
Speaking to Gript outside Government Buildings ahead of last week’s Cabinet meeting, the Fianna Fáil Minister pointed to a number of historic Irish scientific figures as he outlined his vision for research and innovation in Ireland, saying he wanted to support the development of future Irish inventors and scholars.
Lawless made the remarks after being asked whether Ireland could once again become a country known for producing transformative inventions such as the induction coil, the stethoscope and the submarine.
The Minister said the country already had a long and distinguished tradition of scientific achievement, highlighting several Irish innovators whose work had global significance.
“Absolutely,” Lawless said.
“So you mention the induction coil, which was invented by Nicholas Callan in Maynooth University. I’ve visited the university, I’ve seen the Callan Museum. That’s a great example of electromagnetism coming to play in Irish invention which transformed the world.”
He went on to discuss the work of Irish physicist William Stokes and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Walton.
“We also have people like William Stokes, a researcher from Sligo,” he continued.
“He grew up watching the waves crashing on on the Sligo shore. From that curiosity as a young boy, he discovered how fluid mechanics work which is actually how we now propel satellites. He was one of the most profound researchers of his time.
“We have people like Walton – he was in Trinity University behind us here Walton and Cockcroft jointly won the Nobel Prize for splitting the atom.”
Lawless said these achievements remained at the forefront of his thinking as he sought to expand support for research and innovation.
Describing Ireland’s scientific heritage as a “fantastic tradition”, the Minister said he wanted current investment to help produce the next generation of Irish innovators.
“So we’ve had a fantastic tradition of innovation on science and research,” he said.
“And it’s very much to my mind when I’m supporting the area and I’m supporting the sector, I want to have the next generation of Irish scientists, engineers, researchers, innovators, and I think that there’s there’s multiple benefits to that.”
Lawless argued that investment in research would strengthen Ireland’s economic competitiveness while also delivering wider societal benefits.
“There’s the obvious economic return in terms of competitive advantage, in terms of growth, be that foreign direct investment or be it indigenous enterprise,” he said.
“But there’s also societal resilience and there’s also, as we talked about before, a huge, I think, importance on the humanities, on the creative industries. Because in an age of AI as we’re moving into, it’s really important we produce graduates who have analytical skills, who can solve problems in more lateral thinking and who can bring to bear a multidisciplinary approach actually, I think is important.”
Discussing the role of research more broadly, Lawless said it should not be viewed as competing with other areas of public spending.
“To me, a research infrastructure is a part of our economic offering,” he said.
“It also has huge benefits of societal resilience, everything from healthcare to climate resilience, to indeed defense and security we’re talking about today, and everything from traffic modeling.
“You know, we bring practical solutions and in research, I always think shouldn’t be seen as a competitor for funding for other government missions. It actually should be seen as complementary, because through research we can solve, you know, whether it’s housing scenarios, whether it’s traffic modeling, whether it’s climate resilience, defense and security, R&D new breakthroughs in in pharma and life sciences, etc., which become pivotal to driving further economic growth and competitive advantage.”
Lawless said Ireland should continue building upon its historic reputation for scholarship and learning.
“I think we need to build upon that. We’ve always been the nation of saints and scholars historically – we’re known as that. Not so many saints we have left, but we have lots of scholars and I hope to produce a lot more in the coming years.”
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