Every step forward in health research is a step towards better healthcare in Ireland, delivering innovation, prevention, reduced costs, enhanced productivity, and improvement in people’s experiences of health and social care.

We have seen extraordinary strides in the decades since the HRB was established by my Department 40 years ago. From the development of new treatments and underpinning changes to practice, to creating pathways so that people can participate in clinical trials and delivering robust evidence to improve the way we provide care – the HRB has been pivotal in making this a reality.

As you celebrate your milestone anniversary, I am privileged to welcome this new strategy that will guide our path forward.

Government has given a commitment to research in a wide range of areas: including improving dementia diagnostics and supports, building national emergency health preparedness, digital health and genomics, increasing the number and quality of clinical trials and focusing on evidence-based decision-making to advance equity and deliver better health and care.

This new strategy outlines an ambitious roadmap for enhancing innovative and proactive health research with the potential to support delivery across these key areas over the coming years. We need the right conditions for research and innovation to flourish, and this strategy demonstrates a clear commitment to create a thriving research ecosystem which supports the research community. This is essential because evidence shows that when research is embedded in a health service, it equips healthcare providers with the knowledge and data to enable improved outcomes for patients and the public.

Together, we will continue to ensure the patient and public voice is heard during research projects, as it is only by working together that we can deliver real-world impacts.

Through this strategy, the HRB is demonstrating what can be achieved in health research if we are ambitious, collaborative, and above all, prioritising the needs of the public, patients and carers. This approach will position us well to tackle future health challenges, inform decision-making, and deliver better health and social care for everyone.