Ó An Roinn Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíochta agus Eolaíochta
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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris has announced that Ireland has been successful in the next step to join the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research.
CERN considered Ireland’s application last week and agreed to send a taskforce to Ireland to assess its application. The taskforce will produce a report on Ireland’s fulfilment of the criteria for Associate Membership. After reviewing this report, it is likely that CERN Council will make a final decision on Ireland’s application for Associate Membership in June of 2024.
Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
“Today is another step towards Ireland’s membership of CERN. I am thrilled to announce that CERN had agreed to consider Ireland’s application and will now send a taskforce here to progress our application.
“Ireland’s membership of CERN has been long awaited and will be transformative for the research community.
“We already have a very strong physics community in Ireland who are ready to participate in this highly respected international collaboration.
“CERN’s primary mission is to understand the fundamental nature of the universe. The full inclusion of Irish scientists, researchers and engineers in that mission is justly deserved and has been long anticipated both here in Ireland and abroad.”
Minister Harris added:
“With CERN membership, Irish citizens will gain access to CERN’s formal training schemes.
“These include masters and PhD programmes, apprenticeships, a graduate engineering training scheme, internships for computer scientists and engineers, and technical training experience.
“These skills would be developed far beyond what is possible in Ireland and are in industry-relevant areas such as electronics, photonics, materials, energy systems and software.
“The benefits of Ireland’s membership of CERN are immeasurable and I look forward to welcoming CERN’s taskforce in due course.”
CERN is an intergovernmental organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. CERN is the leading global collaboration investigating the fundamental composition of matter. It was established in 1954 and straddles the Franco-Swiss border, just outside Geneva. CERN currently has 23 Member States (including most of the EU Member States) and has co-operation agreements with over 40 other states.
The main focus of activity in CERN is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This is an underground ring which is 27km in circumference in which protons, one of the constituent particles of an atom, are accelerated to 99.9999991% of the speed of light and collided into one another. The Large Hadron Collider was used to discover the Higgs boson in 2012. CERN also plays a leading role in promoting and organising international cooperation in scientific research.
The CERN Convention specifically stipulates that CERN “shall have no concern with work for military requirements and the results of its experimental and theoretical work shall be published or otherwise made generally available.” CERN has, from its establishment, been prohibited from any involvement in the development of nuclear weapons and has a long-established history of non-proliferation. The practical scientific outcomes of CERN research are focused on the development of revolutionary healthcare advances (new cancer treatments) and other new technologies.
The expected financial commitment is circa EUR 1.9 million per annum, for an initial period of 5 years. After five years both Ireland and CERN will work together to consider the best membership options for Ireland.