Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My party provided funding for associate membership in its alternative budget. Professor McNulty's presentation was comprehensive and I cannot see a single reason we are not already at least an associate member and building up towards being a full member, especially when one thinks of the profile of the multinational companies across the State. We boast about the various areas of activity and about being a modern, open economy. This is extraordinary. Professor McNulty's compared Ireland with a number of countries. This report was published in response to then Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, who visited CERN four years ago. Why are we not already a member? Considering this report was published in 2014 in response to a Government initiative, why has this not been sported out?

If we were to go for associate membership, it would cost of €1.3 million, which is an extraordinarily low amount for something that would have significant benefit across a range of sectors in our economy from the public service to the private sector. Will Professor McNulty give us a bit more information on the process where one would start at associate level with a 20% contribution and then scale up? It appears to me to be an absolute no-brainer that we would immediately move to the €1.3 million, or 10%, contribution, get involved and take it from there.