Irish scientists have traditionally left their home country to seek research opportunities elsewhere. But two funding schemes are now trying to tempt them back — as well as seeking to attract researchers from other countries, something that Ireland historically has not done on a large scale. The hope is that this initiative will jump-start businesses and diversify the economy. But some fear that the new grants and infrastructure will not be sufficiently tempting — or won't be sustained. The reality might be good job opportunities for scientists willing to take a calculated risk.

The level of investment — a total of about 1.3 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) over seven years — has certainly caught scientists' attention, both at home and abroad (see pages 4–5). But even Irish scientists who returned home in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, when the country's science funding was particularly grim, view the new-found bounty with guarded optimism. Although they welcome the facilities being built, and hope that the grant schemes will provide the people to staff them, the memory of hard times past serves as a reality check.

Initial results of one scheme, Science Foundation Ireland, bear that caution out. It was set up to attract high-profile scientists — ideally, their entire labs — from other countries. But the results of the first round, awarded last July, are mixed. Of the three biotech-related grants, all went to people already at Irish institutions. Information and communication technology — in which Ireland has a longer history of success — fared a little better. Four of the seven awards went to scientists from abroad — three from England and one from the United States.

But the teething troubles associated with the deployment of new-found finances are problems that many countries would dearly love to have.