asked the Minister for External Affairs whether the holding of contracts in research from US military sources by Irish universities affects this country's position in the United Nations as sponsor or cosponsor of various peace resolutions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - University Research Contracts.
4.
Each of the research projects to which the Deputy refers is undertaken by the professor concerned in the field of his own studies. The results are offered for circulation in open scientific literature. They do not in any way affect our attitude to proposals put forward in the United Nations.
Would the Minister agree that our posture in the world as an honest broker of peace is a sham when we have university colleges under military contracts to one of the big military powers? Is it not rather ridiculous when we are proposing peace resolutions that we should be in this position?
The Deputy has a completely wrong estimate of the present situation. It does not require any help from us to enable the great powers to destroy half or even the whole world. To a large measure now the concentration is upon getting protection from these terrible weapons.
I was not suggesting that our universities were contributing in a major way but it certainly erodes our moral position when our universities are participating, even in a minor way, in the military plans of a world power.
They are not. As I said, these are not secret researches in that they are available for publication.
But would it not be true that these are directly financed from a military source?
The point is that universities take funds from various organisations that want a piece of research carried out, and, as I said, the concern of most governments is to get protection and not to employ these terrible weapons.
Who financed the teaching of Mao?