Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy John Halligan, who is unable to join us this morning. Innovation 2020, the national strategy for research and innovation, recognises that in order for Ireland to become a global innovation leader, our research and innovation system must be open with strong international collaboration links. Membership of leading international research organisations is an important mechanism for facilitating this engagement. For this reason, the Government gave a specific commitment in Innovation 2020 to initiate discussions with a number of international research organisations. Four organisations in particular, namely, CERN, the European Southern Observatory, ELIXIR and LOFAR, were identified and I am pleased to confirm that membership of three of these organisations has been completed.

Ireland continues its consideration of CERN membership. In July 2018, the Minister of State with responsibility for skills, training, innovation, research and development, Deputy Halligan, and officials from the Department met the head of associate member and non-member state relations of CERN to further discuss Ireland’s potential membership of CERN, and in particular the different options of membership and accompanying costs and benefits. The information gathered during this and previous engagements has provided departmental officials with a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits of membership of CERN. While these benefits are recognised as significant, the cost is also significant and must be assessed in the context of other departmental and national investment priorities.

The Department continues to keep the position in relation to CERN membership, and its cost, under review and maintains contact with officials in CERN regarding Ireland's potential membership.

See this speech in context