Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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16. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 248 of 30 March 2017, if her Department held further negotiations regarding Ireland joining the European Southern Observatory in view of the potential benefits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30399/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Innovation 2020, the national strategy for research and innovation, recognised that for Ireland to become a Global Innovation Leader, it must be a member of leading International Research Organisations (IROs). 

Ireland has long-standing membership of the European Space Agency, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the European Molecular Biology Conference, EUREKA, COST and CECAM.

As part of the on-going implementation of Innovation 2020, Ireland joined ELIXIR, the European data infrastructure for the life sciences, in July 2016 and Ireland will join LOFAR, the international radio astronomy collaboration, in July 2017. 

Innovation 2020 also recommended that a formal review be undertaken of costs and benefits of existing and potential new IRO memberships every five years.

As was outlined in the reply to the parliamentary question referred to by the Deputy, my department had significant engagement with the European Southern Observatory, at both official and Ministerial level, throughout 2016. The information gathered during these engagements has provided my officials with a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits of membership and therefore it has not been necessary for my department to hold further formal discussions with the European Southern Observatory since March.

While the potential benefits of membership of the European Southern Observatory are significant, the cost of membership is also significant.

The case for membership is being assessed in the context of other research and innovation priorities.  The cost of membership of the European Southern Observatory comprises a once-off payment of circa €14 million (which may be spread over a number of years) and a recurrent annual cost of circa  €3 million.  My objective is to ensure that we obtain the best overall return on our investment in research and innovation.