Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I hope the reserves exist and, if so, we will be in a totally different position from the one we are in at present.

Deputy Durkan should note it makes no sense to add a provision to this Bill so one can exempt another. The purpose of the Bill is to address the question of oil and petroleum stocks, set up the company to manage them on an ongoing basis and ensure we have the petroleum reserves required to meet our national and international obligations. The question of moving from excise relief towards having a certain percentage of biofuels in our reserves is not a matter for this Bill but the Government is committed to addressing it, as is evident in our Green Paper.

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