Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I too acknowledge our guests in the Visitors Gallery and welcome them to the Leinster House complex and the Seanad Chamber. I also acknowledge, as the Chair said, those who are viewing online, particularly people from the international research community who are looking in at the discussion we are having.

I thank Senator Doherty for her remarks, as well as Senator Malcolm Byrne, who has been very consistent in seeking to advance Ireland's participation in and membership of CERN. Not alone has he raised it here on a number of occasions, but he has raised it at another very important forum, the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party, on many occasions.

To conclude, membership of CERN can be expected to bring benefits to Ireland across research, industry, skills, science outreach and international relations. With CERN membership, Irish citizens would gain access to CERN's formal training schemes. These include masters and PhD programmes, apprenticeships, a graduate engineering training scheme, internships for computer scientists and engineers and technical training expertise. These skills would be developed far beyond what is possible in Ireland and are in industry-relevant areas, such as electronics, photonics, materials, energy systems and software.

Membership would also allow Ireland's enterprises to compete in CERN procurement programmes. Much of CERN's instrumentation and equipment requires the development or exploitation of novel technologies, which spurs enterprise innovation. Many of these technologies have applications in other spheres, such as medicine, space, energy and ICT.

Progressing Ireland's application will involve engagement with the Cabinet, the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, the Department of Foreign Affairs, CERN and, ultimately, as I said, Dáil Éireann, where it has to be ratified. The expected total financial commitment will be approximately €1.9 million per annum for the initial five-year period. At that time, both Ireland and CERN will work together to consider the best membership options for Ireland. In the event of Ireland's membership, a national CERN co-ordination group will be established to oversee the implementation of a strategy to ensure the best outcome for Ireland on its investment in CERN. The group will agree a set of criteria to monitor and assess the success of Ireland's participation. This group will work with existing structures in CERN towards this end.

Since the Minister, Deputy Harris, announced in November that Ireland would pursue membership of CERN, much progress has been made towards this goal and a clear pathway now exists. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will continue to meet with CERN on a regular basis to ensure a seamless transition through each phase of the membership process, ensuring that Irish researchers will be able to participate in CERN activities as early as possible in 2024. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has been invited to visit CERN this year and the appropriate timing of that visit is now under active consideration. Given the strength of the Irish physics community and the wider research community, Ireland has every reason to be confident that it can make a significant contribution to the world-class research being undertaken by CERN.