Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

——the proposers did not know that the corporation tax on exploration was 25%, not 12.5% as they originally put in their motion? How else can we explain the fact that they do not know royalties are still being paid for the Kinsale gas field or the statement in their motion that we "allow oil companies to sit for up to 20 years on exploration and still do no exploration"? That statement is untrue and they had to amend it. Is that ignorance or wilful ignorance? I am prepared to be charitable and say that is what happens when a group of Deputies from many different ideological backgrounds or none come together.

See this speech in context