Where's our Minister for Science?

With Brian Cowen's changes to the cabinet makeover we've seen lots of shifting deckchairs but science seems to have been forgotten.

The former Department of Education and Science has been renamed under a new minister. The Department of Education and Skills will now be headed up by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan. The former minister at that department, Batt O'Keeffe moves to Enterprise bring with him responsibility for the third-level research budget.

The decision to effectively demote science from the cabinet table does little to bolster the government's aim of building a 'knowledge-based society'. Without proper recognition for the role science plays in our economy, the green-shoots of prosperity will be slowed even further.

Brian Cowen should restore the term science to the department's name and give us a Minister of Science while he's at it.