Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be quite clear, the committee felt that if we took a baby step first it might be helpful to the Department because there is a lot of money involved. The committee recommended that negotiations with CERN start immediately with a view to Ireland becoming an associate member as soon as possible. The committee then recommended that after three years of associate membership the Department would conduct a cost-benefit analysis and assess whether there is a case to be made for moving towards full membership. The committee also recommended that efforts should be made to fund the annual fee for associate membership, which we were told is €1.3 million, within the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation Vote. We felt we were trying to lead the Department towards it. I know many in the Department are supportive. We felt we should look at associate membership first and then, after three years, do a cost-benefit analysis to see what benefits we could get from full membership of CERN, and try to find initial funding from within the budget. We felt we took appropriate steps in this respect. The Minister might give us her thoughts on this, if she would not mind.