I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of: (i) the Agreement between the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and Ireland concerning the Granting of the Status of Associate Member State of CERN, signed at Geneva on 8th May, 2025, and (ii) the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 27th May, 2025. I am pleased to move this important motion. I know schedules are running a bit ahead of time. I was in attendance at the Oireachtas joint committee discussing this brief before I came to the Chamber. I think other Deputies may be making their ways across from that session as well because there is a lot of overlap between the two debates.

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The business is an hour ahead of schedule.

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Established in 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is an intergovernmental organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. It is headquartered in Geneva and currently comprises 24 member states and ten associate member states. Associate membership of CERN is a commitment in the programme for Government and a long-standing national ambition. It is also a personal ambition of mine, having advocated for Ireland’s membership of CERN since my time as Opposition spokesperson. I often called for this to happen from the other side of the House and I am particularly pleased to now be in a position to make it happen, as the relevant Minister on this side of the House. Ireland applied for associate membership of CERN in late 2023. The CERN council approved Ireland’s application earlier this year, so Ireland is now in a position to join as an associate member, pending Dáil approval of the agreements under discussion today. The signing ceremony took place on 8 May. It followed a visit I made in February of this year, and a previous visit made by the Tánaiste in the course of his Ministry. That signing ceremony is predicated on domestic ratification, which is the business before us today in terms of this motion. The associate membership agreement and the CERN protocol on privileges and immunities are the two relevant instruments. The associate membership agreement sets out Ireland’s rights and obligations as an associate member of CERN. This includes: the right to participate in CERN’s scientific, training, and education programmes; the right to representation on CERN’s governing bodies; the eligibility of Irish nationals for positions at CERN; and eligibility for Irish businesses to compete for contracts with the organisation. Ireland’s obligations under the agreement include: an annual financial contribution to CERN, the granting of privileges and immunities to CERN staff, and engagement on periodic reviews of Ireland’s status as an associate member state. Ireland’s annual membership fee has been valued at €1.9 million in 2025 prices, subject to indexation. The protocol on privileges and immunities is the second document included in today’s vote. The privileges, immunities, inviolabilities, facilities, exemptions and rights in the protocol are in line with those provided for other comparable international bodies and agreements. Today’s vote is a critical step in progressing the national ratification of associate membership. Should we vote to approve these documents today Ireland can expect to be an associate member state of CERN by autumn. I know that it is critically important for the researchers, students and others who wish to avail of CERN's services to have this in place and complete by the end of this year. That will be enabled should this vote receive cross-House support. While fundamental research is the focus of activity at CERN, the benefits of membership are far-reaching across research, innovation, enterprise and education, to name but a few. I will speak briefly on the many benefits that we can expect to flow from associate membership of CERN. Irish particle physicists, computer scientists and engineers will have the opportunity to work on world-class experiments. The cutting-edge skills that Irish students and researchers will develop at CERN span engineering, quantum technologies, data analytics, advanced materials and much more. Irish companies will be eligible to compete and bid for broader contracts with CERN, covering all business areas from services to the design and delivery of advanced equipment. These contracts challenge and enable Irish firms to stay competitive and to compete at the very forefront of innovation frontiers. Scientists at CERN investigate the chain of matter and go to questions fundamental to the history of our universe but also made many applied and practical discoveries along the way which have many real world and real time applications - many of which were not understood at the time of their discovery. For example, Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, invented the world wide web. He also pioneered the earliest touch screen technology. Both of these were incidental discoveries. In the case of the world wide web, it was a way to share information among scientists and fellow researchers working at CERN. It has gone on to become transformative across the world. There are many other such technologies and innovations that have emerged from CERN and that will emerge in the future. We need to consider what might be next, and how Ireland might support its scientific community in being at the leading edge and being discoverers and frontier makers ourselves. We are already seeing collaborations emerge between Ireland and CERN. Since Ireland applied for associate membership, Munster Technological University and Trinity College Dublin have each signed agreements with experiments at CERN to contribute to challenges in engineering. Those new partnerships show clear potential for engineers and other workers outside of particle physics to benefit from associate membership. International co-operation in research and innovation plays an important role in the development and sustainability of a world-class research and innovation system. International research organisations like CERN maximise the impact of international and national investment in research and innovation, as well as developing international collaborative relations. I thank the community who have supported Ireland’s application to CERN and who will continue to play a pivotal role in Ireland’s engagement with CERN. On the occasion of my previous visit, I was joined by a significant travelling cohort from the Irish research and scientific communities. It is fair to say that there is universal acclaim and welcome for this development. It is something that was long awaited and anticipated among the science and research community. This day is something that many will be glad has come. I commend this motion to the House. For the reasons outlined, I am requesting approval of the House today so that Ireland can join this world-leading international scientific collaboration. Tá súil agam go mbeimid go léir ar aon intinn gur deis iontach í seo. I hope all will agree with me that it is an excellent opportunity. I thank the House for their engagement and look forward to the debate.

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Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí Dála a labhair sa díospóireacht seo. It has been a worthwhile debate. I welcome the support for the motion from across the House. What is rare is wonderful. We do not see such agreement often but, when we do, it is something to celebrate. I thank the Deputies on all sides of the Chamber who contributed. I acknowledge the contribution of the scientific community to this achievement. I visited CERN for the first time in 2018 as an Opposition spokesperson. Professor Ronan McNulty of UCD really led the charge on this for many years. He invited me along on that trip, together with Dr. Kevin Byrne and his brother Dr. Joe Byrne. Professor Sinéad Ryan, now dean of research at Trinity College, who was also there, has been an advocate in this area for a long time. There are many others, some of whom were mentioned in the course of this debate, who laboured in the vineyard for some time to make this happen. It is a cause for great celebration and acclaim for them as they see their efforts rewarded and brought to fruition. We are able now to take the next step and avail of the opportunities this creates for the Irish academic community. There are plans to leverage our membership. A national advisory council will be set up to grow the research community and the research capacity in particle physics and the related disciplines that concern CERN. We must take full advantage of the opportunities that present. Deputy Byrne talked about a CERN strategy; the national advisory council will be in a similar vein. There may well be an industrial liaison officer as part of that exercise. As noted in the debate, this development is about a tremendous academic collaboration but it is also an industrial, enterprise and research endeavour. There are opportunities for Irish businesses and enterprises to be part of the wider journey and, in fact, that is already happening. At the institutional level, Munster Technological University and Trinity College are both engaged in collaborations. Tyndall National Institute in Cork has a collaboration. The fulcrum of activity at CERN is high-end research and seeking to unmask the secrets of the universe through high-end collisions and the operation of the Large Hadron Collider. However, it also offers every sort of supporting technology. When I was there, I witnessed high-performance computing, stacks of Oracle mainframes and servers and a range of data analytics. There was great engineering prowess involved in the tunnelling to create the Large Hadron Collider. There are also electrical supports, scanners and detectors. A massive engineering effort, civil, electronic and computer science engineering, goes into that. There are many opportunities, including in the trades, for Irish businesses to co-operate and contribute. I expect we will see that right across every spectrum of activity, with a huge opportunity to contribute. Several Deputies mentioned PhD students. I am working to increase the level of support provided to researchers across the board. I draw attention to a recent letter to The Irish Times from Professor John Doyle of DCU in which he compared the situation of a student on a PhD stipend of €25,000 with that of a worker earning the same rate. It is not like for like because PhD students have their fees paid, they do not pay any deductions, there is no PAYE or PRSI on that stipend and they may be in receipt of grant funding as well. It was well put in that letter. Deputy Jen Cummins spoke about the importance at primary and pre-primary level. Recently I participated in the Curious Minds initiative by Research Ireland, which encourages awareness in primary schools. It was pivotal that I was able to travel to Geneva to sign the treaty. It was only possible because Deputy Gogarty allowed me to be paired for the election of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, at a time when pairs were not forthcoming from other sides of the House. I thank him for that. Deputy Gogarty made a real practical contribution that day by agreeing to pair with me so I could attend without any fear that any votes might be lost along the way. That was very important. We are signing today as associate members. It is important to understand that this is something that has very much been the mark set in conjunction with the research community. A question was asked about why we have not taken out full membership. This is a level to which we aspire and to which we intend to grow. The research community is of a size and scale that associate membership is appropriate. This view is shared by the research community and CERN but it is a journey. As we grow our engagement, involvement and capacity, the intention is that the bandwidth will grow also. We may well aspire to full membership in due course and I will support that journey, but this is the right approach and level to enter on and it is something we do with the full support and faith of the research community. It is very much a testament to it and I thank all those who have laboured in the vineyard to make this happen. I look forward to it bearing fruit.

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