We already know that the super-cooled economy will have to record significant budget cuts across the board, writes Dick Ahlstrom

THE GOOD news is that the world wasn't gobbled up by mini black holes when they switched on the big atom smasher at the Cern research complex on the French-Swiss border. Happy days. The bad news is that the colossal machine reputed to be able to cause said mini black holes, the Large Hadron Collider (LCH), has broken down and won't be up and running again until 2009.

So we can still look forward to the possibility that the €4.2 billion behemoth may trigger the end of the world as we know it. Happy days.

The enormous electromagnets that steer atomic particles around the LHC's 27km ring must be kept chilled to about minus 270 degrees in a bath of liquefied helium gas. Unfortunately there was a leak, things got a bit too warm, bits started to melt and they had to switch the whole thing off.

They will fix the cause of the leak relatively quickly, but it could take months to get the electromagnets cooled down to operating temperatures again. So we can only sit and wait. There is still time to squeeze that nice holiday in before the LHC gets an opportunity again to trigger Armageddon.

There are few leaks at time of writing, unfortunately, from Government circles on the contents of the Minister for Finance's unprecedented early Budget. Given the current global economic climate, however, it also has the potential to end the world as we know it, or at least the world as we have known it since the arrival of the Celtic Tiger.

We already know that the super-cooled economy will have to record significant budget cuts in public sector investment and payroll costs across the board.

To steal a line from another song, the clear message is that 'we ain't seen nothing yet'.

As in the LHC when it gets going again, the high energy collisions expected to take place in Cabinet between the Minister for Finance and his colleagues will be spectacular. Reputations rather than sub-atomic particles will be scattered in all directions as the bad news is relayed first to the departments and then further afield to the public.

We are told by physicists, working closely with political analysts, that there could be unexpected consequences of these collisions, with mini black holes being triggered in the political dimension and crossing into our own universe, possibly forming under Leinster House. Most agree that it won't be a pretty sight.

Not surprisingly, Ireland's scientific community and scientists around the world will be taking particular note of the outcome of these high energy collisions.

However, their interest in this great new Government experiment represents much more than just casual scientific curiosity. All will be watching for any evidence of a black hole forming near the existing research budget or under the NDP-supported 'Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation'.

Significant cuts in this area could have catastrophic consequences for the Government's stated ambition to develop a knowledge economy in Ireland. Achieving a knowledge economy requires steady and sustained investment in research, with support going into the development of people and of facilities.

You can't do high energy physics without big machines like the LHC and you can't study genetics, chemistry, biology, medicine and human disease without small things like modern laboratories in our third-level institutions.

Nor can you accomplish anything without the scientists to make all the equipment productive. Equipment doesn't produce new ideas, people produce new ideas.

So the scientists will be watching closely for any black holes that threaten the science budget. They hope and expect to see it remain intact, protecting its potential to grow our knowledge economy. They know that if there are any cuts, Ireland's research machine might have to be switched off and productive science will slow.

Scientists abroad will take just as keen an interest. No country, not Japan, not America, not China, can produce enough skilled scientific researchers.

There is constant competition between countries to attract the brightest and the best from abroad to bolster the numbers coming out of universities and institutes closer to home.

At the moment, Ireland represents a land of promise for many of these key post-doctoral researchers and also for established scientists who are tempted to take up research opportunities here funded by the science strategy. They will want to see continuity in this funding before taking a chance on moving to the land of saints, scholars and scientists.