Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2116. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills following the announcement of Ireland's associate membership of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, the estimated level of additional funding and resource commitment Ireland will make over the next five years; the mechanisms by which regions outside Dublin for example, Munster-Cork will participate or bid for collaborative research funding; and the way in which he intends to translate high-end research membership into tangible local employment, innovation clusters and retention of talent in regions such as Cork. [58422/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland joined CERN as an Associate Member State on 22 October 2025. Irish researchers, entrepreneurs and educators are now able to access a broad range of opportunities at CERN. Among other benefits, Irish businesses will now be eligible to compete for CERN contracts and Irish citizens will be eligible to apply for training programmes and staff positions of limited duration at CERN.

Ireland's financial obligations to CERN as an Associate Member State also came into effect on 22 October 2025. Ireland's full-year annual Associate Membership fee is approximately €1.9 million in 2025 prices, prorated for the first partial year of associate membership. This figure will be adjusted each year relative to Net National Income and indexation.

My Department is establishing a National Advisory Committee to advise on national priorities to support and maximise the opportunities provided by Ireland's Associate Membership as well as metrics for performance. The group will include representatives from industry, education and research and will consider how to strategically maximise engagement with CERN across Ireland.

In conjunction with the above a National CERN Stakeholder Forum will be established for businesses, researchers and institutions to keep up to date with the latest developments and to provide insight and feedback on existing supports and potential future measures.

Researchers in Munster are already involved with CERN. Researchers in University College Cork have worked with CERN for several years on advanced tunnel monitoring and assessment. Munster Technological University is a Technical Associate Institute of the ATLAS experiment at CERN, working collaboratively with the experiment to provide solutions to engineering challenges while developing industry-relevant skills.