Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will confirm the amount it will cost, annually, for Ireland to become a member of CERN; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37011/12]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his Department has plans for Ireland to become members of CERN; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37012/12]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will confirm the potential benefits to Ireland of becoming members of CERN; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37013/12]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 543 to 545, inclusive, together.

The issue of whether or not Ireland should join CERN was formally reviewed by my Department, through Forfas, which commissioned an expert report by consultants Georgia Tech in 2001 to examine the case for Irish participation in a number of intergovernmental research organisations. That Report concluded that, because of high costs and limited industrial development returns, membership should not be considered a priority. Since then, of course, the severely depleted resources available to the Government has meant that there is an even greater imperative to ensure that publicly funded research and development will yield the maximum benefits for the country – most particularly in terms of downstream jobs. Ireland's membership of international research organisations is reviewed on a regular basis and in the case of the European Space Agency, for example, the value of membership in terms of support to Irish companies and researchers is considered to justify the costs of our membership.

It is important to note, however, that Irish researchers are not precluded from participating in, and benefiting from, the work being done at CERN. In an ideal world, of course it would be desirable to be involved in this major project, based in Europe as it is. The question is whether we should divert very scarce, and in most cases committed, funding away from the areas that we had identified as having the best chance of contributing to our economic recovery.

The costs of full membership of CERN are understood to be over €10m per annum. While other associate membership options may be available involving lesser amounts, the issue remains that a decision about joining CERN must take into consideration the opportunity costs involved, as payment of any fees would mean that less funding is available for our existing research priorities. Should budgetary circumstances change; the matter could be reviewed again but only if there is a compelling business case from a cost/benefit viewpoint.