Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)

The Minister is one of those people who was certain about CERN a long time ago. While that organisation might operate at the speed of light, the implementation of our associate membership, unfortunately, did not. This is a small step in some ways but it also represents an important underlining of the investment by Governments over many decades in education and research, which has put Ireland and the Irish population in a place where we can benefit from international investment. All of that has helped to create jobs and generate the proceeds of taxation we can use to progress further. This development is another step forward in providing access for Irish researchers to a very important facility.

The Minister was in DCU a few months ago to open the new Polaris building. Students there will have access to its facilities and will be able to progress their research. I thank the Minister for the work he has done. As others have said, we need to go further and create the demand for a sufficient number to avail of the new opportunities in order that we can go to full membership. To do that, we must encourage those involved in research centres in our universities and elsewhere.

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