US report says State should join three international research organisations

The Republic should spend more than £4.83 million to join three international research organisations, according to a report to Forfβs from US consultants. Membership of these bodies would provide graduate training, commercial opportunities and also boost the State's research capability, it says.

The report is part of an ongoing consultation process run by Forfβs for the Office of Science and Technology within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Forfβs was asked a year ago to create an assessment process to decide if memberships of certain international research organisations would help develop research here. The consultants were asked to consider the "value for money" aspect of memberships of four research bodies.

These included EMBL, the European molecular biology laboratory based in Heidelberg; ESRF, the European synchrotron research facility in Grenoble, France; ESO, the European southern observatory in Chile; and CERN, the European organisation for nuclear research based in France, across the border from Geneva.

Forfβs asked consultants at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US to assess these four bodies. Their report recommends that the Government consider membership of all but CERN.

This was only a step in the decision-making process which was not yet complete, said Ms Helena Atchinson, a policy specialist with Forfβs. The group involved in the process would make a recommendation to the Forfβs board this month, she said, and this would then be passed to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment "where the final decision will be made".

The Georgia Tech experts were enthusiastic about Irish membership of EMBL, which would cost the State about £339,000 a year. Of the four bodies it "presents the best value for money and receives top priority in our analysis", the group says, recommending that the Government "immediately seek full membership".

It also says the State should "seek membership in ESRF in the near future" based on negotiations about membership type and cost. It would cost almost £500,000 a year to be a member.

The report suggests the Department should "support and contribute to initiatives to seek membership in ESO" which costs £2.91 million to join and then about £1.1 million a year thereafter.

The report did not recommend the Republic join CERN "at this time". It cited "high costs, a modest current research base in Ireland and limited industrial development returns" as reasons.

Its recommendation runs counter to a strong view within the Department that the State should be a member of CERN. The Department holds that CERN could be a major contributor to our information and communications technology industries.