Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

It is this thinking that has guided the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, in his dealings with oil and gas exploration companies. It is important to remember that in Ireland, we have a one in 20 success rate when we drill a well. Norway has a one in eight success rate.

A balance must be found between attracting exploration companies to Ireland and ensuring that the interests of the State are protected. This is not and cannot be a fixed relationship — it must be dynamic as circumstances dictate. If more wells are found, the State can demand more in return. We want more exploration, but until the discovery of the Corrib gas field, exploration off the Irish coast had been fairly unproductive. However, we now have the Corrib field and I welcome the Minister's statement that he will review the State's present fiscal terms to ensure it receives its appropriate share in future.

Yesterday, the Minister announced that he would accept the recommendations of Advantica, the independent group tasked to review safety in the Corrib field. He also published and accepted the findings of his own Corrib technical advisory group. Hopefully, all of these recommendations, which are stricter in safety terms than international best practice, will be agreeable to both parties in the Corrib gas field dispute and the development of this large resource off our coast can be brought ashore and utilised for the benefit of Ireland.

The importance of using this wonderful asset is made all the more pressing when we witness on a daily basis the surge in oil and gas prices on the world market. As a country, we do not have many oil or gas resources and are very dependent on the importation of these fuels for all aspects of our economy. When we discover a substantial natural resource such as the Corrib gas field, it is imperative that we utilise it as soon as possible. I say this recognising that fossil fuels have a definite life span and many experts warn that we are coming to the end of their availability. Renewable sources of energy, such as wind and wave, are the way forward in conjunction with the use of agricultural crops for biofuel. I commend the Minister for recently taking important steps to encourage the development of natural forms of energy, such as grants for solar energy in houses. More of the same type of progressive and enlightened thinking is the way forward so that, eventually, we will be self-sufficient.

I will restate what all of the public representatives in the west and north west have been advocating for some time and to which the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, briefly alluded, namely, that An Bord Gáis should immediately set about providing a gas pipe from County Galway through counties Mayo and Sligo to County Donegal.

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