asked the Taoiseach the contribution this country has made to the financing of the orbital test satellite.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Orbital Test Satellite.
1.
No contribution has been made by this country to financing the development, launching or operation of the orbital test satellite. Located in Dublin, however, is a small earth station which receives transmissions from the satellite, and this station has been jointly funded by the European Space Agency, who have paid £31,500 over a period of three years to cover maintenance and operational costs, and by the Irish Government who made a contribution of £40,000 from the Departmental Science and Technology subhead which preceded the present National Board for Science and Technology grant-in-aid.
For the information of the House, we have an earth station in Cork also. Can this country avail of the facilities provided by this satellite even though we have not made a contribution?
The fact that we were aided by the space agency to establish the station indicates that fact.
Is there any suggestion that this Government are going into orbit?
I think that we have been launched in the last five months and there is no problem about us staying in orbit for the next four years. It was not necessary for us to contribute to the launching operation of the satellite in order to benefit from it, which is a very satisfactory situation.