Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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I will summarise Senator Landy's point. The delegation has come a long way. We would hope it has something to say rather than just asking us questions.

I attended a number of EU Presidency meetings in Copenhagen earlier this year. One of the points the delegation made that interested me, of which I have taken note, is that Canada is taking the carbon footprint of the full production process and is getting a carbon rating on that basis - there is the extraction process, the cleansing process and all the rest of it.

Ireland has no oil or gas loyalty. We are not big players on the international stage. We are not like Russia, north Africa or anywhere else. This is not a sector, such as whiskey, software or IT technology, in which we are a world leader. We are a small player in this sector. If we have taken a position on this, it would not be on the basis of self-interest because we are not major stakeholders in it.

We will have to push Mr. Tilson on the question. His response has been that he has gone to a number of EU member states and they told him they were having a look at the issue. I would imagine he has met not so much with their committees but with their environment Departments. The issue would not have come across the desk of this committee if the delegation had not brought it before us today.

If I were in Mr. Tilson's position, all I would be asking is that they examine all oil on a full-carbon-footprint basis. Is Mr. Tilson making that argument? Can he present a scientific argument that a pint of Saudi crude has a greater carbon footprint than a pint of sand oil from Quebec, Alberta or wherever?