merrion street

Speech by the Tánaiste and Labour Party Leader, Joan Burton T.D.
at the Launch of Institute for Lifecourse and Society
National University of Ireland Galway

I’m delighted to be here with you this afternoon and thank you for the kind welcome.

NUI Galway is renowned nationally and internationally for its applied social science research and activities related to lifecourse and civic engagement. 

The advances made here by academics, staff and students have enabled solid partnerships to be made between the university and wider society.

This has in turn advanced positive social change.

This great work will now be further enhanced by the establishment of the Institute for Lifecourse and Society (ILAS).

It will become both a pioneering research institute for the applied social sciences and a flagship of the university.

Your goal here is to in this new institute is to achieve international excellence in social policy and practice development through the pursuit of interdisciplinary research in the social sciences.

This will be done by creatively integrating the rich and diverse intellectual resources from within the university and beyond. 

I have no doubt that you will succeed in this endeavour when I see the rich intellectual capacity that is being brought together under the one roof:

In particular, this includes:

· The UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (CFRC) led by Professor Pat Dolan;
· The Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) led by Professsor Tom Scharf;
· The Centre for Disability Law and Policy led by Professor Gerard Quinn;
· The Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) led by Lorraine McIlrath;
· The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) led by Dr. Geraldine Leader; and
· The Health Economics and Policy Analysis (HEPA) led by Professor Eamon O’Shea.  

The type of applied research that will be done here will make a significant contribution to informing policy development and practice that makes a positive difference to people’s lives.
I know the initial focus is to bring together existing work in relation to targeted populations such as older persons, children and families and persons with disabilities into one domain of research teaching and policy.

Researchers in the humanities and social sciences are key to understanding social, cultural and political developments.

They serve to facilitate enlightened appraisal, objective assessment and judgement and an understanding of cultures and cultural systems and values.

What also needs to be recognised is that both national and international policy has identified the clear need for greater interdisciplinary research in Ireland.

Researchers in both the Arts and Humanities and STEM disciplines need to come together and collaborate on themes of mutual interest and benefit.

Ireland’s Horizon 2020 Strategy has committed to taking steps to encourage and stimulate greater interdisciplinary research over the coming years.

The Social Sciences and Humanities research community has a key contribution to make, as the challenges Europe and Ireland face are fundamentally social and human in nature.

This is because the challenges facing all of us in Europe -  whether food and energy security, clean transport or public health for example - cannot be solved by a single field of science or technology.

This acknowledgement - that no single discipline or fields of study, be that science or technology, are designed or fully equipped  to answer all the great challenges confronting modern societies - has  certainly resonated with a large body of Irish academic opinion.

The intent behind Horizon 2020 is to end such isolation and help bridge the divide that exists between disciplines.

This audience doesn't need to be convinced that the higher education and research community, and those students it cultivates, are key national resources in the endeavour to secure our future.

Research creates new knowledge and enables the development of expertise and skills.

Importantly, research skills and knowledge generation are required for every facet of our existence.

Knowledge is needed about us as human beings, as citizens, and every aspect of our environment whether economic, social or societal.

Irish people are known worldwide for their creativity and innovation.
This country is full of talented and creative people and we need to harness those attributes, abilities, and skills to create a positive roadmap towards our shared futures.

We are fortunate to have educational institutions such as NUI Galway that do not just disseminate data but give their students the space to think and grow as rounded human beings and the intellectual tools to create knowledge.

In this way Ireland can nurture its capacity to generate new knowledge within and across our academic institutions.

The country has emerged from recession into the fasting growing economy in Europe. 

We’ve more to go, and not everyone is feeling the benefits of recovery yet.

But we’re getting there bit by bit, and are now in a position to invest in sustainable growth for an economic and social recovery.

Our €27 billion, six-year capital investment plan, Building on Recovery, maps out our pathway to a better future.

Better roads, rail links, schools, health facilities and broadband will both make our economy stronger and our communities better.

Nationally, the plan contains, as part of its €3.8billion investment in education, a €110 million investment in Higher Education facilities, with an extra €200 million due to be invested in the third level sector under public private partnership.

For Galway in particular, the plan contains investment in roads; in capital projects to serve as part of the 1916 commemorations; the completion of the cancer care department at University Hospital and new special intensive care rehabilitation units to mention just a few.

My colleague, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan will shortly announce the next wave of school construction.

In addition, Budget 2016 will deliver more than 2,200 new teachers and reduce the pupil-teacher ratio by one point.

We are expanding the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme to give our children the best possible start in life.

We also announced in the last month’s Budget a series of sustainable measures to boost incomes and raise living standards.

The effect of the recession and of the subsequent improvements in people’s lives as we grow stronger in recovery will provide good material for this new institution. 

My goal has always been that an economic recovery must be accompanied by a social recovery and Budget 2016 is a significant step towards achieving this.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the contribution that Atlantic Philanthropies has made not only to this project but to this country since the 1980s.

Atlantic has made a huge contribution to both academic and social causes in Ireland. 

It has invested over $1.2 billion to more than a thousand projects in Ireland to strengthen and grow the higher education system; stimulate a knowledge economy; and fundamentally transform the design and delivery of services for children, older adults and people with disabilities.

Once again I would like to congratulate everyone involved in this flagship project and wish you all the best of luck going forward. 

I look forward to reading your research papers and findings over the coming years – and to those papers and findings helping to formulate Government policy.