James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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27. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she has assessed the considerable economic, educational and research opportunities that the State could avail of as a member of CERN; if her Department is engaging with the possibility of Ireland joining CERN as soon as possible; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30413/17]

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. Innovation 2020, contains actions to initiate negotiations with CERN on Ireland's membership options.

Discussions with CERN commenced in 2016 and senior officials from my department, Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland visited CERN in July 2016. The Director-General of CERN visited Dublin in October 2016 and met with former Minister Mitchell O’Connor. The information gathered during these engagements has provided my officials with a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits of membership of CERN.

While the potential benefits of membership of CERN are significant, the cost of membership is also significant. 

The cost for Ireland to become a full member of CERN would be approximately €15 million per annum.  Alternatively, Ireland could become an Associate Member for 10% of this of cost (€1.5 million per annum).  However for Associate Membership, there is a corresponding reduction in the benefits available such as access to contracts for enterprise.

The case for membership of CERN is being assessed in the context of other investment priorities.