New frontier to Irish-US relationship as Ireland joins space accords

Taoiseach Micheal Martin addresses a St Patrick’s Day business leaders' luncheon at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC.Ireland will join the Artemis Accords, the Taoiseach has announced.Micheal Martin said Ireland would join the accords, which are a set of principles for the civil exploration and use of outer space established by Nasa in 2020.Mr Martin said Ireland-US collaboration is “ever evolving and quite literally pushing into new frontiers”.He added: “Bilateral engagement on the peaceful use of outer space is one such area.“The US has shown leadership in developing the Artemis Accords.“I am pleased that Ireland has decided to join the Accords, and we look forward to exploring all the opportunities that this unlocks.”There are 61 other signatories to the accords which set out “principles for cooperation in the civil exploration and use of the moon, Mars, comets and asteroids for peaceful purposes”.