#IMERC - Documents seen by the Irish Examiner show that the Naval Service was against the shutting of the Irish Marine and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) earlier this year.
A joint marine research initiative of CIT’s National Maritime College of Ireland, UCC’s MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy and the Naval Service, IMERC was wound down on the foot of a 2016 report commissioned by the two colleges which concluded it was “not fit for purpose”.
But records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that navy officials believed the decision was “short-sighted” and “did not highlight the substantial achievements and impacts of IMERC” since it was established in 2011.
Moreover, it was claimed the report that prompted the decision to disband the Cork Harbour-based initiative was flawed, containing a number of inaccuracies — a sentiment shared by business start-ups using the cluster.
The Irish Examiner has much more on the story HERE.