Kildare's new minister sets out his priorities as he gets his feet under the desk

Kildare TD and new minister James Lawless is already busy at work in his new Higher Education brief ahead of his first full Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The Minister for Further, Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science (FHERIS) moved into his new offices at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin on Monday morning.

However, before that, the Fianna Fáil Minister was busy all weekend reading into his new, busy, brief as he prepared to take his place at the top table of Irish politics. 

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This is the first time Kildare has had somebody at Cabinet since Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McCreevy sat there over 20 years ago.

He is joined by his Kildare colleague, Fine Gael’s Martin Heydon, who also got the call-up to serve as a senior minister, with Agriculture his responsibility.

Mr Lawless had one of the most successful election campaigns in the country after he topped the poll in Kildare North, was first elected and brought in a party running mate.

Speaking ahead of taking office in his new role as Minister for FHERIS on Monday, Minister Lawless said: “I was spokesperson for the sector between 2016-2020 and worked with many of the key stakeholder in that time. Ireland’s industrial policy since Lemass has pivoted around the knowledge economy and the cultivation of talent, a strategy that is evidenced today by the multiple tech, pharma, life sciences and many other multinationals with major sites here.

“Harnessing digitalisation, AI, data science, and generally aligning our graduate output with the skills of the future whilst strengthening our economy will be a key goal.

“Curiosity and pursuit of knowledge is crucial in its own right - from the discovery of penicillin or the laws of gravity to the creation of the internet, so many of mankind’s greatest breakthroughs were unanticipated - it is essential to support frontier research.

“Funding gaps will have to be tackled whilst supporting and strengthening our emerging TUs. “Ensuring a skills pipeline across many sectors, through training, apprenticeships and much more is fundamental.

“Education is key to Ireland and Fianna Fáil and it is a huge honour to be entrusted with it”.