Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This is a fantastic and really important opportunity for Ireland. I applaud those who have pushed it, particularly our academics. They are not gold-plated academics, as described by another Deputy in an absolutely glib and throwaway remark. That remark is part of the myopia that sometimes goes along with initiatives that involve spending money. An investment of €1.9 million in the context of what we spend on research in this country is insignificant but it gives us access to a very significant resource. It gives our academics, who are at the coalface of genuinely practical research, an opportunity to join with their international colleagues in making real progress on the questions that affect us, energy being the obvious one. The potential for solutions in the area of energy generation is enormous.

Why would certain commentators stop at making glib remarks like the one I mentioned? Why not also throw out the idea of being opposed to our membership of CERN in case its research is used for military purposes? This is despite the fact the founding documents of CERN specifically preclude any involvement in producing material for military use. CERN has been a very strong proponent of non-proliferation since its inception. Part of the myopia I mentioned is wanting to score a point and throwing an idea out there to try to confuse matters and give people a reason this might not be a good idea. In fact, there is nothing bad in this proposal. It is inexpensive in the scheme of things, even though it involves a huge amount of money, but the access it gives to our academics makes us part of an international community of which we always should always have been a part.

My understanding is that once we become associate members of CERN, 25 of the 27 European Union member states, with the exception of Slovenia and Malta, will be either full members or associate members. Why would we not want to be part of that club? Why would we not want our academics, our researchers in particle physics and nuclear physics and our engineers to have the opportunity to join with their international colleagues in CERN and be part of what are some of the biggest and most important research projects in the world? It is a wonderful initiative. I applaud the Government for bringing forward this proposal and the Minister for his work on it. I look forward to the fruits that will be gathered by our academics, our economy and our people from being part of this important endeavour.

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