Sir, – I had the privilege of serving as deputy head of the Irish mission to the UN and other international organisations in the second half of the 1990s, including during an EU presidency.
Membership of Cern (“Ireland’s refusal to join Cern is perplexing and disadvantages physicists here”, News, November 3rd), though on our foreign affairs agenda, was not considered a priority at the time by home departments and scientific institutions. Cern was at a highly experimental stage in its development, with serious debate ongoing as to whether the concept of an atomic collider was a feasible scientific concept or a figment of the imagination. And it cost quite a lot to join at a time of relative austerity.
I also wonder if our strong anti-nuclear stance, born of Chernobyl and of the Carnsore Point national debate had – and may still have – some constraint on joining Cern. It was surely no mere coincidence that the Electricity Regulation Act, banning electricity generation in Ireland by nuclear power, was passed into law as late as 1999, just as Cern was beginning to be a news item.
So, I would argue that it is hardly surprising, and naive to wonder, why Ireland is still not a participant, even as an observer status member. Our fear of anything nuclear is still shining brightly.
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– Yours, etc,
DÓNAL DENHAM,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.