Minister Harris announces Ireland has been successful in next phase of CERN application

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD 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 task force in due course.”

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