Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The House understands that very detailed and intense preparatory work is involved in producing the legislation, including in respect of the all-island energy market. When we first discussed the Bill, we were trying to address all the safety issues. The Minister is, at long last, establishing a very fundamental safety regime for electricity and gas. The public would like to know that it will be in place.

When the interested parties met the Opposition representatives before the consideration of the Bill, they highlighted what they believed were deficiencies in the way the Minister was to regulate existing organisations and in the way safety measures were approved. One can say for definite that the gas and electricity safety measures are paramount and should be enforced as soon as possible. Regulations are made available to the Oireachtas Library but this is not the same as discussing them in the House, as Deputy Durkan indicated.

Let us consider Deputy Cowley's comments. To allow us concentrate on the Bill, which is not primarily about exploration, is there any way in which the Minister could facilitate face to face talks between Shell and the key people from Mayo? I note the points he has made in this regard. The whole country has been interested in this subject. There has been much comment on the matter in the media today and different parties, including representatives from my party, have a particular interest in it. Does the Minister foresee a fundamental role for Bord Gáis Éireann in resolving the dispute and getting the gas ashore safely in an agreed fashion so that we would have the interim fuel supply the country desperately needs?

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