Some 600 geologists from all over the world have gathered in Dublin today for one of the biggest conferences of its kind ever held in Ireland.
The 9th biennial conference of the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits is being being held at Trinity College.
Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Tony Killeen welcomed some 600 delegates and said few people realise that the geoscience industry here contributes more than €2 billion to the Irish economy each year.
"The Government recently recognised the growing importance of this area by making €10 million available...to support geological research in Irish third level institutions," Mr Killeen said.
Dublin was chosen as the venue for the conference following a competitive process.
"It is my firm belief that geosciences have a vital role to play in allowing us to understand and ultimately manage our environment on a sustainable basis and I hope that your discussions over the coming days will help us reach this goal," Mr Killeen said.