The Council is fully aware of a considerable medical research potential
in our community and of the frustrations aroused by its ineffective
expression. As a granting agency it is limited by its slender appropriation
in several ways. Most significantly it cannot fruitfully anticipate emerging
trends worthy of development or concentrate on objectives with special
relevance to the disease patterns in our community (both activities are
reliable means for profitable utilisation of available research talent). At
best the Council must depend on investigator-initiated projects to achieve
its objectives by allowing some measure of priority to such projects. In
the context of our terms of reference this is highly unsatisfactory, because
it requires displacement of support rather than the appropriate development
and expansion needed to meet the contingencies of new research.
In several fields of research, including Cancer Research and Cardiovascular
Research, voluntary organisations have to some extent ameliorated
the difficulty. They too are faced with the identical problems. With
these considerations uppermost the Council has sought means by which
it could redress the balance and assure more effective contribution from
the research potential. In this regard the role of the Medical Research
Council was broadly discussed in June by the Council's officers with
officials of the Department of Health. An important topic concerned the
programme presented to the Minister by the Council in 1974, which
referred to establishment of an Institute, setting up of research units
and to more comprehensively designed research projects. These might
be of national interest and relate to problems which require more than
three years of study. While these proposals have been under consideration
since 1974 the Council has continued to discharge its responsibilities
as best it can under financial stress and within obsolescent guidelines.
Pressures on its policies have evolved mainly from mounting demands
on its resources by investigator-initiated research projects. Currently the
Council cannot financially satisfy all requests submitted to it by many
acceptable applicants whom it considers worthy of support. Some, which
had been highly recommended by the special Committees, have had to
be rejected. This situation is likely to introduce an unhealthy spirit of
competition for its finances between scientists (and their institutions),
which must be detrimental to research, especially that initiated by
competent young investigators. So far the Council has managed to
avoid this by a peer review system whereby the special Committees
conduct interviews with all new applicants. The solution is obvious, to
increase the grant as indicated by the Council to the Minister. This
necessary expenditure would comprise a miniscule of our GNP and
still leave the support of Medical Research in Ireland the lowest among
the nations of the European Community, including those of comparable
population. It should be recalled that the Council's grant at present
represents 1 part in I ,400 of the GNP (0.07 %).
|
