ESO Welcomes Ireland as Member State

John Halligan T.D, Irish Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development and Xavier Barcons, Director General of ESO have signed the Accession Agreement that will lead to Ireland joining the European Southern Observatory (ESO) — which will give Irish scientists access to the world’s most advanced ground-based astronomical telescopes. The signing in Dublin on 25th September, follows the unanimous approval of Irish membership by the ESO Council at a meeting held in June.

“We are delighted to welcome Ireland as the newest member of our organisation” stated ESO’s Director General, Xavier Barcons. “Ireland’s mature and thriving astronomical community will add to the broad variety of expertise in the ESO Member States, strengthening ESO’s position at the forefront of global astronomy. Irish astronomers will gain access to a suite of the world’s most advanced ground-based astronomical telescopes and will have the opportunity to be part of the construction of the next generation of ESO instruments in partnership with other ESO Member States. We are also very much looking forward to working with Irish industrial partners to build and operate ESO’s state-of-the-art telescopes.”

“Ireland joining the ESO family is exciting and welcome news, and comes at a time when we can jointly look forward to the operation of the world’s largest optical/infrared telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope, currently under construction in Chile,” said Colin Vincent, STFC’s Head of Astronomy Division and ESO Council UK delegate. “UK scientists and technologists also welcome the prospects of working with Irish colleagues developing new capabilities useful to ESO, notably in advanced optics, electronics and software.”

The accession cements the position of Ireland’s astronomical research community as an asset to worldwide astronomy. With the ESO Membership, Ireland gets access to ESO’s world-class suite of telescopes and instruments, including the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Paranal and the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) at Chajnantor, as well as the opportunity to contribute to the construction of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).