Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I warmly welcome Ireland's decision to apply for associate membership of CERN and want to see a strategy of us moving towards full membership. I commend the Minister personally. He has been a big supporter of this. Indeed, he and I laboured in the last Oireachtas to ensure that this got over the line. I also commend his departmental officials on the work done to join the world's largest and possibly most important scientific research centre. I also want to mention the fact that a lot of the campaigning here was led by research students, particularly Michael Mitchell, a PhD candidate in Trinity College. He led on this and sought to influence, correctly, Government policy in this regard. It is not enough for us to just look at joining CERN, however. We need a CERN strategy and I know the Minister believes in this. Such a strategy would look at supporting researchers, our universities and other research institutions partnering with others around the world.

The UCD experimental particle physics group played a role in working with CERN on the Higgs boson discovery. It is important that we partner with the universities and develop that strategy. Ireland has always been committed to multilateralism. I say to Deputy Collins that this is a peaceful institution. It is about global co-operation in the scientific community.

We should go further. There are other organisations I would support us joining, including the Antarctic Treaty Organisation. Given the opportunities that now present with new technologies, a CERN for artificial intelligence, in which Ireland could play a leading role, is something we should consider. I thank the Minister and his Department for their work.

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