Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am a little disappointed because we do not seem to be making much progress. The recommendation was to at least explore associate membership. There is very little difference between the answer the Minister of State delivered and that which the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, delivered to me at the beginning of March. If we are to explore associate membership, we should set a timeframe. I would like the Minister of State to indicate a timeframe by which that could happen.

In all other areas, when work like this is done, a cost-benefit analysis is carried out. Why can one not be done in this area? With the European Southern Observatory, we are already seeing benefits flowing to Ireland. Why can a cost-benefit analysis not be done and published in a relatively short period of time?

As the Minister of State said, I raised this matter at the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party meeting. The Taoiseach is supportive of our membership of CERN and, in fact, he thought the process had already commenced. When will the associate membership process start? If there are questions about cost, and these seem to be the only questions being raised, will the Department commit to doing a cost-benefit analysis?