John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

The overriding fact is that Ireland has not yet established itself as a petroleum province. Our success rate to date does not match those of our neighbours in north-west Europe such as Norway, the UK and the Netherlands. Regarding Norway, it is obvious from this debate that the proposers of the motion have no answers to the reality that the Norwegian licensing and fiscal terms are a product of that country's success in petroleum exploration and production.

While Ireland had similar terms to Norway up to 1987, as my colleague the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Dempsey, pointed out, that country made 60 commercial finds compared to one in Ireland. Several of those finds dwarf the Kinsale field in size. These successes enabled Norway to become for a time the second largest exporter of oil in the world, behind Saudi Arabia. It is also obvious from this debate that Ireland's situation is different in that the prospectivity does not compare to Norway's, its offshore waters are deeper and therefore more expensive to drill and the lack of infrastructure compared to the North Sea in terms of pipelines, terminals and platforms make a discovery more expensive to develop.

Exploration levels must be maintained and even increased. The 1992 terms are seen as the best means of achieving that. That is not only the view of the present Government. These terms and their rationale have been accepted and implemented by every Government since their introduction 14 years ago. Current energy prices have increased levels of exploration activity around the world. Consequently, Ireland hopes to see more exploration.

The recent news that a major oil company such as Exxon Mobil acquired exploration interests in offshore Ireland is extremely welcome news. If Ireland is to reduce its present dependency on imported energy, it must promote exploration to find and develop its indigenous resources. The current state of under-exploration of offshore Ireland, particularly the Atlantic margin, can also provide opportunities.

Regarding the Corrib gas field, the Deputies will be aware that the Corrib safety study was published by the Minister yesterday. The Corrib gas field is a major infrastructure project, with the potential to play a significant role in the economic and social regeneration of Mayo and the north-west region. It will facilitate the improvement of the region's infrastructure and increase local employment in both the short term and long term. The development will also increase Ireland's security of supply by providing a reliable, secure and indigenous source of gas.

Some time ago, the Minister appointed Peter Cassells as a mediator in the Corrib dispute. Mr. Cassells is a former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and was one of the main architects of the social partnership agreements. I share the Minister's hope that the ongoing mediation process will allow all those concerned to work together to resolve the difficulties that have arisen. It is crucial that the project proceeds with the agreement of all the interested parties.

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