b'The School can rightly claim to have played a More recently, the School foresaw thesignificant role not only in the development of emergence of data science (even if the termthe IT industry in Ireland but of Irelands wider was not widely used at the time!) as a unifyingeconomy, not least through the generations of discipline across computer science, statistics,graduates who have passed through its doors. mathematics and cognate areas, manifest in theProf Byrne and the early members of the School merger of the Departments of Computer Scienceforesaw not only the emergence of Computer and Statistics in 2005.And, of course, theScience as an academic discipline but also the School has been at the forefront of developingfuture demand for graduates educated in all critical mass in key areas of often multi-aspects of computing. This was manifest in the disciplinary research expertise supported byfoundation of one of the earliest departments of competitive research funding through itsComputer Science internationally along with a research groups, which in many cases nowsuite of dedicated Computer Science degree underpin large-scale national publically-fundedprogrammes.research centres. The School foresaw what is often considered to This foresight has allowed the School to go frombe a recent trend for the provision of continuing strength to strength (with only some minorprofessional development and multi- bumps in the road!). The School now enjoys andisciplinarity manifest in what became a international reputation for excellence incontinually evolving portfolio of part-time and education and research and is home to a cadreWhile hindsight is often said to be 20/20, the multi-disciplinary programmes. The School has of world-class sta, highly significant researchSchool of Computer Science and Statistics, its a long tradition of fostering innovation and activities, and a suite of programmes that areforerunners, the Departments of Computer entrepreneurship among sta and students and increasingly in demand by Irish andScience and of Statistics, its founders, sta and of working closely with Irish and multi-national international students. Over the recent past, thestudents have consistently demonstrated industry that foresaw recent national and School has positioned itself at the forefront ofremarkable visual acuity in their foresight over international public policy shifts in this thinking (and acting) on many of the mostthe last fifty years! direction.important issues facing global society today. 0059'