Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I have to say I agree with the Deputy. I cannot confirm why or how we are not a member. It is not longer within our Department. Rather, it is within the remit of the Department led by the Minister, Deputy Harris. However, we referenced that in our science strategy, innovation 2030 and I believe Impact 2030 does too. Membership of these associations, CERN being one of them and the ESA another, are extremely worthwhile for our country. It is about judging of when one joins them or what type of membership one takes on and how much we allocate but I am certainly an advocate. I can see the benefits of all of them, to be honest, but it is about timing, management and budget. I will check with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to see where it is at with that. We do not longer have the budget for it any more. I wish we did.