Research and Innovation Act 2024

(2) The parties to an agreement or arrangement under this section may vary the terms of the agreement or arrangement.

(3) An agreement or arrangement under this section, or any variation of such an agreement or arrangement, shall be in writing.

(4) An agreement or arrangement under this section shall not operate to bind the Agency or a body to which this section applies.

(5) The Agency shall provide the Minister and any relevant Minister in relation to a body to which this section applies with a copy of each agreement or arrangement under this section and any variation thereof.

(6) (a) An agreement or arrangement under this section shall not operate to require the Agency to provide information to any other body to which this section applies if the disclosure of that information by the Agency is not permitted by this Act or is prohibited by law.

(b) An agreement or arrangement under this section shall not operate to require a body to which this section applies to provide information to the Agency if the disclosure of that information by that body is not permitted by this Act or is prohibited by law.

(7) In this section—

(a) “relevant Minister”, in relation to a body to which this section applies, means any Minister of the Government who performs functions in relation to the body;

(b) a reference to a body to which this section applies means—

(i) An tSeirbhís Oideachais, Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna,

(ii) An tÚdarás,

(iii) Enterprise Ireland,

(iv) the Environmental Protection Agency,

(v) the Health Research Board,

(vi) the Industrial Development Agency (Ireland),

(vii) the Marine Institute,

(viii) the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland,

(ix) the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland,

(x) Teagasc, or

(xi) a body established by or under an enactment in which functions are vested by statute or otherwise relating to purposes connected with the promotion and undertaking of research and innovation and that is prescribed by order of the Minister for the purposes of this section.

(8) The Minister may, by order, prescribe a body referred to in subsection (7)(b)(xi) for the purposes of this section.

PART 4 Data Protection

52. Supply of personal data

52. (1) Subject to the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, a recipient of funding shall, if so requested by the Agency, furnish to it such personal data in the format requested with regard to—

(a) a member of its staff, including the gender, particulars regarding salary, disability and ethnicity of the member of the staff, and

(b) such other personal data as may be prescribed in consultation with the Agency,

which are necessary and proportionate for the Agency to perform its functions under paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e), (g), (l), (n) and (o) of section 9(1).

(2) The personal data requested by the Agency from a recipient of funding may include special categories of personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 2018), subject to suitable and specific measures taken by the Agency to protect the data as part of any processing of those data, which may include—

(a) limitations on access to the data undergoing processing within the Agency in order to prevent unauthorised consultation, alteration, disclosure or erasure of the data,

(b) strict time limits for the erasure of the data and mechanisms to ensure that such time limits are observed,

(c) specific targeted training for those involved in processing operations, and

(d) where possible, the aggregation of the data.

(3) If a recipient of funding fails or refuses to provide data when requested to do so under subsection (1) or (2), the Agency may, by notice in writing, direct the recipient of funding to provide the data within a period specified in the notice.

(4) A recipient of funding to which the direction under subsection (3) is given shall comply with the direction within the period specified in the notice under that subsection.

(5) The Agency may, by notice in writing, amend or revoke a direction under this section.

(6) Subject to the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, the Agency may publish the data obtained by it under this section in such form and manner as it considers appropriate.

(7) Notwithstanding subsection (6), special category data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 2018) may only be made publicly available in aggregated form to ensure that no person to whom the data relate is identifiable.

53. Furnishing of personal data

53. (1) Subject to the Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 and subsection (3), the Agency may furnish to recipients of funding, a Minister of the Government, the Revenue Commissioners, the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, An tSeirbhís Oideachais, Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna, An tÚdarás and such other body (whether statutory or otherwise) which is funded wholly or partly by public moneys as the Agency considers appropriate, personal data as is necessary and proportionate which come to its attention in the course of performing its functions, and which relate to one or more of the functions of that body.

(2) Subject to the Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 and subsection (3), bodies referred to in subsection (1) may furnish personal data which come to their attention in the course of performing their functions to the Agency.

(3) The personal data that may be furnished under subsections (1) and (2) shall be for the purpose of performing the functions of the Agency under paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e), (g), (l), (n) and (o) of section 9(1).

PART 5 Transitional, Consequential and Miscellaneous Provisions

54. Dissolution of Science Foundation Ireland

54. (1) On the establishment day, Science Foundation Ireland (in this Act referred to as the “dissolved body”) shall stand dissolved.

(2) Section 30 shall apply to the person who immediately before the establishment day was the Director General of the dissolved body subject to the modifications that—

(a) references in that section to the Chief Executive Officer shall be construed as references to that person, and

(b) references in that section to the Agency shall be construed as references to the dissolved body.

55. Transfer of members of staff of dissolved body

55. (1) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), each person who, immediately before the establishment day, is a member of staff of the dissolved body is, on that day, transferred to and becomes a member of staff of the Agency.

(b) Each person who, immediately before the establishment day, is a fixed-term employee of the dissolved body shall, on that day, become and be a fixed-term employee of the Agency for the duration of his or her contract.

(2) The terms and conditions to which a person is subject upon his or her becoming a member of the staff or a fixed-term employee, as the case may be, of the Agency in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to have been determined by the Agency in accordance with subsections (2) and (3) of section 32.

(3) Save in accordance with any enactment or a collective agreement negotiated with any recognised trades union or staff association, a person transferred to the Agency under subsection (1) shall not, on the establishment day, be subject to less beneficial terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office or remuneration) than the terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office or remuneration) to which he or she was subject immediately before that day.

(4) In relation to persons transferred to the Agency under subsection (1), previous service with the dissolved body shall be reckonable for the purposes of, but subject to any exceptions or exclusions in, the following:

(a) the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2022;

(b) the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001;

(c) the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997;

(d) the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005;

(e) the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015;

(f) the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003;

(g) the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 to 2014;

(h) the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 to 2022;

(i) the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005, together with the amendments of the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 in Part 2 of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021;

(j) the Parental Leave Acts 1998 to 2023;

(k) the Carer’s Leave Act 2001;

(l) the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016;

(m) the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019.

56. Transfer of land and other property

56. (1) On the establishment day, all lands that, immediately before that day, were vested in the dissolved body and all rights, powers and privileges relating to or connected with such lands shall, without any conveyance or assignment, stand vested in the Agency for all the estate or interest therein that, immediately before the establishment day, was vested in the dissolved body, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the lands continuing to subsist and being capable of being performed.

(2) On the establishment day all property (other than land), including choses-in-action, that immediately before that day was vested in the dissolved body shall stand vested in the Agency without any assignment.

(3) Every chose-in-action vested in the Agency by virtue of subsection (2) may, on and from the establishment day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by the Agency in its own name, and it shall not be necessary for the Agency, or the dissolved body, to give notice to any person bound by the chose-in-action of the vesting effected by that subsection.

57. Transfer of rights and liabilities, etc., of dissolved body

57. (1) All rights and liabilities of the dissolved body subsisting immediately before the establishment day and arising by virtue of any contract or commitment (expressed or implied) shall on that day stand transferred to the Agency.

(2) Every right and liability transferred by subsection (1) to the Agency may, on and after the establishment day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the Agency in its own name, and it shall not be necessary for the Agency, or the dissolved body, to give notice to the person whose right or liability is transferred by that subsection of such transfer.

(3) Every lease, licence, wayleave or permission granted by the dissolved body in relation to land or other property vested in the Agency by or under this Act, and in force immediately before the establishment day, shall continue in force as if granted by the Agency.

58. Preservation of contracts made by dissolved body

58. Every contract, agreement or arrangement made between the dissolved body or any trustee or agent thereof acting on its behalf, and any other person, which is in force immediately before the establishment day, shall continue in force and shall be construed and have effect as if the name of the Agency were substituted therein for the name of the dissolved body or, as may be appropriate, that of its trustee or agent, and shall be enforceable by or against the Agency.

59. Records of dissolved body

59. Each record held by the dissolved body immediately before the establishment day shall, on that day, stand transferred to the Agency and shall, on and after that day, be the property of the Agency and be regarded as being held by the Agency.

60. Liability for loss occurring before establishment day

60. (1) A claim in respect of any loss or injury alleged to have been suffered by any person arising out of the performance, before the establishment day, of any of the functions of the dissolved body shall, on and after that day, lie against the Agency and not against the dissolved body.

(2) Any legal proceedings pending immediately before the establishment day to which the dissolved body is a party, shall be continued, with the substitution in the proceedings of the Agency, in so far as they so relate, for the dissolved body.

(3) Where, before the establishment day, agreement has been reached between the parties concerned in settlement of a claim to which subsection (1) relates, the terms of which have not been implemented, or judgment in such a claim has been given in favour of a person but has not been enforced, the terms of the agreement or judgment, as the case may be, shall, in so far as they are enforceable against the dissolved body, be enforceable against the Agency and not the dissolved body.

(4) Any claim made or proper to be made by the dissolved body in respect of any loss or injury arising from the act or default of any person before the establishment day shall be regarded as having been made by, or proper to be made by, the Agency and may be pursued and sued for by the Agency as if the loss or injury had been suffered by the Agency.

61. References in enactments or instruments made thereunder to dissolved body

61. References (however expressed) to the dissolved body in any enactment or instrument made under an enactment shall, after the establishment day, be construed as references to the Agency save where other provision is made as respects the construction of the first mentioned references by any enactment passed before the passing of this Act.

62. Final accounts and final annual report of dissolved body

62. (1) The Agency shall, in respect of the period specified under subsection (3), prepare final accounts of the dissolved body.

(2) The Agency shall, not later than the date on which it submits its first set of accounts following the establishment day to the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 25, submit the final accounts of the dissolved body to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and shall, immediately after the audit, present a copy of the accounts and a copy of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the accounts to the Minister who, as soon as practicable thereafter, shall cause copies of those accounts and that report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the Minister may specify a period that is longer or shorter than a financial year of the dissolved body.

(4) The Agency shall, not later than the date on which it submits its first annual report following the establishment day to the Minister, prepare and submit to the Minister the final report of the activities of the dissolved body and the Minister shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, cause a copy of the final report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(5) The final annual report of the dissolved body shall be published by the Agency in such manner as it considers appropriate as soon as practicable after copies of the report are laid under subsection (4).

63. Transitional provision consequent upon dissolution of dissolved body

63. Anything commenced by or under the authority of the dissolved body and not completed before the establishment day may be carried on or completed, on or after that day, by the Agency.

64. Transfer of certain members of staff of An tÚdarás

64. (1) The Minister may designate in writing such and so many of the members of the staff of An tÚdarás as he or she decides to be transferred to the Agency from such date as may be specified in the designation (in this section referred to as “the effective date”).

(2) A member of the staff of An tÚdarás designated in accordance with subsection (1) shall become and be a member of the staff of the Agency from the effective date.

(3) Save in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated with any recognised trades union or staff association, a person transferred pursuant to a designation under subsection (1) to the staff of the Agency shall be subject to such terms and conditions of service, including terms and conditions relating to tenure of office or remuneration, as are not less favourable than the terms and conditions of service (including those relating to tenure of office or remuneration) to which the person was subject immediately before the effective date.

(4) In relation to persons transferred to the Agency in accordance with subsection (1), previous service with An tÚdarás shall be reckonable for the purposes of, but subject to any exceptions or exclusions in, the following:

(a) the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2022;

(b) the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001;

(c) the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997;

(d) the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005;

(e) the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015;

(f) the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003;

(g) the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 to 2014;

(h) the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 to 2022;

(i) the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005, together with the amendments of the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 in Part 2 of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021;

(j) the Parental Leave Acts 1998 to 2023;

(k) the Carer’s Leave Act 2001;

(l) the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016;

(m) the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019.

65. Transfer of certain rights and liabilities, etc., of An tÚdarás

65. (1) All rights and liabilities of An tÚdarás that are subsisting immediately before the establishment day relating to the activities as respects research and innovation carried out by the Irish Research Council and arising by virtue of any contract or commitment (expressed or implied) shall on that day stand transferred to the Agency.

(2) Every right and liability transferred by subsection (1) to the Agency may, on and after the establishment day, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the Agency in its own name, and it shall not be necessary for the Agency, or An tÚdarás, to give notice to the person whose right or liability is transferred by that subsection of such transfer.

(3) Every lease, licence, wayleave or permission granted by An tÚdarás in relation to land or other property vested in the Agency by or under this Act, and in force immediately before the establishment day, shall continue in force as if granted by the Agency.

66. Preservation of certain contracts relating to research and innovation made by An tÚdarás

66. Every contract, agreement or arrangement made between An tÚdarás or any trustee or agent thereof acting on its behalf, relating to the activities as respects research and innovation carried out by the Irish Research Council and any other person, which is in force immediately before the establishment day, shall continue in force and shall be construed and have effect as if the name of the Agency were substituted therein for the name of An tÚdarás or, as may be appropriate, that of its trustee or agent, and shall be enforceable by or against the Agency.

67. Transfer of certain records of An tÚdarás relating to research and innovation

67. Each record held by An tÚdarás immediately before the establishment day relating to the activities as respects research and innovation carried out by the Irish Research Council shall, on that day, stand transferred to the Agency and shall, on and after that day, be the property of the Agency and be regarded as being held by the Agency.

68. Transitional provision consequent upon An tÚdarás ceasing to perform certain functions relating to research and innovation

68. Anything commenced by or under the authority of An tÚdarás relating to the activities as respects research and innovation carried out by the Irish Research Council and not completed before the establishment day may be carried on or completed, on or after that day, by the Agency.

69. Amendment of Higher Education Authority Act 2022

69. The Act of 2022 is amended—

(a) in section 9(1)—

(i) in paragraph (e), by the insertion of “in co-operation with Taighde Éireann,” before “plan for research in the higher education system”,

(ii) in paragraph (h), by the substitution of “Taighde Éireann” for “Science Foundation Ireland”, and

(iii) in paragraph (i), by the substitution of “Taighde Éireann and other Government agencies” for “Government agencies”,

(b) in paragraph (b) of section 17(7), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (iii):

“(iii) Taighde Éireann,”,

(c) in section 20(3)(a), by the insertion of “and Taighde Éireann” after “the Minister”,

(d) in section 21, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) An tÚdarás shall, in preparing the annual plan, consult with Taighde Éireann.”,

(e) in section 33(5), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (e):

“(e) Taighde Éireann,”,

(f) in section 39, by the insertion of “and Taighde Éireann” after “Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland”,

(g) in section 50(1)(c), by the substitution of “and Taighde Éireann” for “and Science Foundation Ireland”,

(h) in section 51(1), by the substitution of “Taighde Éireann” for “Science Foundation Ireland”,

(i) in section 67(1), by—

(i) the deletion of “and” after paragraph (a),

(ii) the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (a):

“(aa) Taighde Éireann, information on any issue concerning a designated institution of higher education relating to the performance by it of any one or more of its functions specified in subsection (3) as respects that institution, and”,

and

(iii) the addition of the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(3) The functions of Taighde Éireann referred to in subsection (1) are those provided for in paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (m) and (n) of section 9(1) of the Research and Innovation Act 2024.”.

70. Amendment of Schedule 5 to Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005

70. Schedule 5 to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 is amended in paragraph 1(4) by the insertion of “Taighde Éireann,” after “Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies,”.

71. Confirmation of acts done or purporting to have been done

71. (1) All acts done, or purporting to have been done, by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in performing the functions of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment under sections 11 to 13 of the Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Act 2014 during the period commencing on the 1st day of January 2021 and ending on the 15th day of April 2024 which would, but for this section, be invalid, shall be, and be deemed always to have been, as valid and effectual for all purposes as if those acts were done by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

(2) If subsection (1) would, but for this subsection, conflict with a constitutional right of any person, the operation of that subsection shall be subject to such limitation as is necessary to secure that it does not so conflict but shall otherwise be of full force and effect.

72. Service of notices

72. A notice that is required to be sent or given to a person or body under this Act may be sent or given to the person or body in one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to the person or body;

(b) by addressing it to the person or body and leaving it at the address at which he or she ordinarily resides or is located or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(c) by sending it to the person or body by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which he or she ordinarily resides or is located or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address;

(d) by sending it by means of electronic mail to a device or facility for the reception of electronic mail located at the address at which the person resides or carries on business or the body carries on business or, if an address for the service of a notice has been furnished by the person or body, that address, but only if the recipient’s facility for the reception of electronic mail generates a message confirming a receipt of the electronic mail and the notice is also given in one of the other ways mentioned in any of the preceding paragraphs (a) to (c).