M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

Last night, the Minister told the House there are 13 offshore exploration licences, including 11 frontier licences. We are striving to encourage people to look for gas and oil off our coast and develop that sector. As fossil fuels are depleted and expertise increases, we will find that companies will drill in deeper waters and be able to extract more oil and gas. I hope the significant costs involved will be met by a success rate. To date, costs of exploration in Irish deep waters relate to a 20:1 chance of striking something.

The private sector has the expertise. In recent months, comments have been made to the effect that this is an Irish resource and should be kept for the people of Ireland. We do not have the expertise that international companies have, to go into the wild Atlantic and look for gas and oil.

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