Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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75. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she has raised the UK's future membership of the European Space Agency with her UK or EU counterparts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34241/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The European Space Agency (ESA) is an international organisation with 22 Member States from both within and outside the European Union. The Agency operates independently of the European Union and the United Kingdom’s membership of ESA is not dependent on its EU membership.

The United Kingdom’s policy is to continue to be a member of ESA after it leaves the European Union and British companies will remain eligible to participate in the Agency’s projects.

It is too early to say what impact Brexit may have on the UK’s participation in joint European Union/ESA space programmes. The terms of any agreement in relation to such programmes would be a matter for the EU 27 and the UK to agree as part of any negotiation.

Accordingly, I have not raised the issue of the UK’s future membership of ESA with either my UK or European counterparts.