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Business, Enterprise and Innovation Committee to discuss Irish membership of CERN

11 Oct 2018, 14:28

Ireland’s potential membership of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, will be discussed on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

The meeting at 4 p.m. in Committee Room 4 can be viewed live here and on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.

Addressing the Committee is particle physicist Ronan McNulty, a senior lecturer at the UCD School of Physics and an advocate of Irish membership.

Twenty-one European nations and Israel are full members of CERN based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1954, CERN today is home to six particle accelerators – including the world’s biggest machine, the Large Hadron Collider – used by international teams of physicists to conduct high-energy subatomic experiments.

“Scientific and industry advocates say membership of CERN would give Ireland invaluable access to one of the world’s most critical centres of scientific investigation and discovery,” said Committee Chair Mary Butler TD. “Membership would involve a recurring cost to the State. The Committee will carefully weigh the cost of such investment against the potential gains from State involvement in research that, at its core, seeks to unlock the mysteries of the universe.”

Separately at Tuesday’s meeting, Business, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Heather Humphreys will discuss an Order amending Section 27 of the Competition Act 2002. The Order raises financial thresholds required for mandatory notification of certain mergers and acquisitions. It comes into effect on 1 January 2019.

Media enquiries

Shawn Pogatchnik
Houses of the Oireachtas
Communications Unit
Leinster House
Dublin 2
+353 1 618 4203
+353 86 701 3295
shawn.pogatchnik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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