Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Tá áthas orm deis a fháil tacaíocht a thabhairt don rún ó na Teachtaí Neamhspleácha sa Ghrúpa Teicniúil.

I am interested to know if any of the speakers from the Government side have visited Rossport and seen the situation which has been exacerbated by the Government's lack of consideration and proper governance. I have visited the area and the home of Ms Mary Corduff and other families, while Mr. Willie Corduff and the other four men from Rossport were in prison. I passed, going into the home of Mrs. Corduff, an invisible line on her driveway. That line is on the maps of the Shell consortium as the route for the pipeline, which will contain metals, other impurities and radioactive gases, travelling at high pressure. The Advantica report states the pressure will not be as high as Shell initially intended but, nonetheless, there are still risks associated with the pipeline. A similar pipeline in New Mexico exploded in August 2000, killing 12 people who were camping 206 metres away. The pipeline in Rossport is less than 70 metres from the Corduff family home. In that context, the Minister of State must understand that there is naturally going to be enormous resistance, and rightly so, to people being taken for granted and having their lives put in jeopardy in this fashion.

I also visited the site of the treatment plant in Ballinaboy. Strangely, that plant was refused planning permission in April 2003 but, following a meeting between the Taoiseach and executives of the consortium, was granted permission in October 2004.

We have a report, but a very narrow one. It is a narrow examination without consideration of the alternative routes or other options, such as off-shore processing. Before we go any further on this we need another report into the behaviour of Fianna Fáil, with particular reference to Ray Burke, in its role as oil company agent. Deputy Fahey also needs to answer a few questions. There is no doubt that the people of Mayo will not let this rest. When one sees the arrangements made one must ask what is in it for the people. The answer is little other than that we pay whatever Shell demands in terms of price, which will continue to rise as the market gives it the ability to rise.

The Advantica report makes recommendations and highlights the fact that the Government does not have a risk-based framework for decisions on proposed and existing major hazard pipelines and lacks the transparency and consistency of a decision-making process. That is a nice way of stating that the Government has been shown up by this process as not being able to ensure fair governance and act in the interests of the people. That must be addressed before we can go any further.

The Minister is in awe of the oil industry. He must take into account that the oil industry has also produced extremely clear evidence that we are facing a peak in oil production. That will mean that Ireland will be at the total mercy of spikes in oil prices which will ruin this economy, thanks to this Government. I ask that this be a clarion call to get over our reliance on oil and gas and move on. Government back-benchers are fixated on establishing how much oil and gas we have left. We cannot wait around for the last drops of gas and oil. We must move on. If this debate does anything, I hope it provides us with a launching pad for that more important and wider debate.

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