Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State. I will start with the Minister of State. He spoke about the €5 million Supplementary Estimate for the European Space Agency and said an additional €1.7 million will be paid to the European Southern Observatory. As he is aware, research and innovation are vital for the Irish economy, and membership of international research organisations is an important part of increasing our own research output. Ireland is currently one of only three European countries that does not have any formal agreement with CERN, which I know the Minister of State is very supportive of. Innovation 2020's vision is for Ireland to be a global innovation leader driving a strong, sustainable economy and a better society. If Ireland is to deliver on this vision, membership of organisations such as CERN, which are at the forefront of innovation, is critical. The committee recently did a body of work on CERN and we launched our document in the past month. I wish to put the following to the Minister of State strongly on behalf of all the joint committee members. Some of them are not here, and I am probably straying slightly outside the committee's remit, but at the same time it is a great opportunity to put this to the Minister of State. While concerns have been raised that Ireland may not be in a position to take advantage of all the potential benefits of membership of CERN, the committee believes that joining CERN, even as an associate member, which would initially cost €1.3 million, would create an environment that would encourage Irish researchers and businesses to take maximum advantage of these opportunities. The committee has made a number of observations and recommends that negotiations start with CERN with a view to Ireland becoming an associate member as soon as possible. I hope we will get the opportunity to discuss the Estimates for 2020 next year but I just wanted to put out a marker on behalf of every member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation that we fully support the Department starting negotiations with CERN with a view to Ireland becoming an associate member. Could I hear the Minister of State's thoughts on this?

Of course the Chairman can. I acknowledge that CERN is one of the largest international research organisations in the world. It is a leading research collaboration investigating the fundamental composition of matter. The Government gave a specific commitment in Innovation 2020 that we would initiate discussions with several international research organisations. Discussions with CERN started in 2016. As a matter of fact, an Irish delegation visited CERN in 2016 and we met the director general. The Department has been proactive in advancing Ireland's membership of CERN. Representatives of CERN met me and departmental officials some months ago. We continue to keep the position on CERN membership and its cost under review and we continue to contact officials in CERN.

I thank the committee for its support because I am a great supporter of joining CERN. I hope to visit CERN in January to continue further discussions. I should tell the committee that based on the indications received from CERN the cost of Ireland's full membership, and I believe we should have full membership, at current prices would be approximately €13.6 million annually, which is substantial money. To become a full member, a country must go through associate membership prior to membership.

We are continuing negotiations with CERN. It is my view and that of the Department that we should join CERN. We will continue negotiations with CERN over the coming months. I have spoken to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance about CERN. I hope to have further meetings with the Minister for Finance in the coming months before I go to CERN. I support the committee. CERN is a premier international research organisation. Believe it or not, it is conducting research in 2,000 areas. I know a good deal about CERN and we should join it. I fully support the committee. Unfortunately, I have not given the Chairman a direct answer. The Minister will have to give that answer. If the Chairman were to ask whether the Government supports joining CERN, it does and it is in our programme.