Oireachtas panel told it’s ‘crazy’ for Ireland not to be Cern member

Ireland is missing out financially and reputationally as one of just three sizeable European countries, along with Bosnia and Moldova, not in Cern, the “premier scientific laboratory in the world”, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

Joining Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, as an associate member would cost the state as little as €1.3 million annually and would deliver “pragmatic and tangible benefits”, in terms of research and business contracts, according ...