Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Following the unveiling of Budget 2018 by the Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on the 10th October, I set out details of my department's spending plans for 2018. I announced that the increased capital allocation for innovation will enable Ireland to join the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in 2018.

Regrettably, due to the tight fiscal constraints on the budget and the heavy demands on my department's capital programme, it will not be possible progress Ireland’s membership of both CERN and the European Southern Observatory in 2018.

ESO has been prioritised over CERN because of the large, established community of astronomy researchers in Ireland. Astronomy is an active area of research in each of our universities and several of our institutes of technology. This community is well positioned to avail of the opportunities provided by ESO membership, thereby maximising the immediate benefit to Ireland. In addition, the companies in Ireland that have had great success in securing contracts from the European Space Agency are well placed to bid for ESO contracts due to the overlap between the technologies used by ESO and ESA.

Nevertheless, membership of CERN will remain on our policy agenda and my department will keep the issue under active review. I hope that we will be able to progress CERN membership in the coming years, when the fiscal situation improves.

As CERN is an inter-governmental body, the approval of both the Government and the Dáil will be required in order for Ireland to join.