Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Without returning to the Second Stage debate, I fundamentally disagree with Senator McDowell. It is not gesture politics. The four seismic licences granted yesterday will destroy large sections of marine life in the north-west Atlantic Ocean at a time when the wildlife system is in peril. There will be massive damage. If we succeed in finding oil in the north-west Atlantic Ocean, that oil, in being pumped out and into the atmosphere, will pose the greatest threat to our security and the young people whom the Government seeks to represent. It is not a gesture; it is the exact opposite and the most tangible element of the challenge we face.

On the expiration licences for the Chinese offshore oil company with Exxon Mobil to drill off the County Kerry coastline, the field is far offshore, in the Porcupine Bank, several hundred kilometres away. The Minister of State said striking oil or gas there would have a less harmful impact on the environment because the energy resource would not have to be moved over long distances. Will he explain why pumping oil or gas out of the north Atlantic Ocean would be less harmful to the environment?