Ireland's application to join Cern at an advanced stage, minister confirms

The main focus of activity in Cern is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), an underground ring, with a circumference of 27km, in which protons are accelerated to 99.9999991% of the speed of light and collided into one another. File picture

Ireland looks set to become a member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern), the world-renowned centre for scientific research that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, by 2026.

Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless confirmed that Ireland's application to join Cern is now at an advanced stage.