Dáil debates

Wednesday, 15 November 2006

Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed)

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 78:

In page 24, line 44, after "pipelines" to insert the following:

"including all pipeline terminals and refineries associated with the recovery, bringing ashore and processing of Ireland's onshore or off-shore natural gas resources".

These are again the amendments of the 1999 Act relating to natural gas safety and the functions of the commission thereby, by the insertion after subsection (1)(f) of the 1999 Act, where the commission, having consulted with the Minister, shall establish and implement a natural gas safety regulatory framework and report annually to the Minister etc. It will include a system for the inspection and testing of all natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines.

I sought that this should be extended to include all pipeline terminals and refineries associated with the recovery, bringing ashore and processing of Ireland's onshore or off-shore natural gas resources. I thought this might be a useful contribution to the debate we had last week, which I do not wish to return to at length on this occasion. However, we again witnessed unfortunate events last Friday as regards the ongoing dispute at Corrib Gas and the concerns of north Mayo, Erris and that whole area. The safety concerns people had with the pipeline route were vindicated by the Minister's technical advisory group, TAG, by Atlantica and by the centre for public inquiry. Because of that it would be wise to have a reference in the legislation to terminals and refineries. Given that this is obviously a development that the Minister has suggested will lead into an exciting new time for Irish exploration, surely it is something that could be included, to give CER a fundamental role.

One of the reports at the conference opened by the Minister last week, from Island Gas, I believe, suggested there might be approximately 130 to 140 years of oil supply lying in certain tranches off our western shores. If that bears any remote relationship to reality, it is quite clear that this type of development is something that is central to recovery of those resources for our nation. Obviously, next week we shall ask about the Indecon report and other matters referred to by the Minister. However, it would be a useful contribution to call on the Minister to try to have those matters resolved, even at this late stage, so that we may have the recovery of our natural resources off the coast of north-west Mayo by agreement instead of the appalling incidents we witnessed last Friday. The ongoing stand-off will produce appalling dangers in the future for the people of the area as well as the Garda Síochána so I urge the Minister to take a leading role in that regard. If the current contacts which are being developed with Shell, Norwegian interests and others lead to anything fruitful, I call on the Minister to give his immediate support. Specifically in this case, however, it would be helpful if we included terminals and refineries.

On a final point, anyone who had been dealing with this very difficult issue, such as the Minister, and spokespersons in the House, have all learned enormous lessons for the future about Irish natural resources, their exploration and what must be done. It would be an important step forward to give CER a role as regards terminals and refineries.

Amendment No. 79, after line 9, relates to how the commission would carry out its safety functions so that procedures for the investigation of any incidents involving natural gas "including all onshore and off-shore exploration and recovery facilities", are provided for. This means that at the heart of this will be a reference to the exploration programme, to try to avoid the disasters of the Corrib saga over the past ten years. It would mean a system is in place that the public could have great confidence in for any part of Ireland which might be a reception area for major off-shore resources. As I said, the Department's conference last week seems to indicate our territorial waters and maritime economic zone is the home of great natural resources. We shall press this point in the House in coming months and hopefully we will have the chance to have an input, after the general election, to introduce measures and a regime that will ensure all our natural resources are exploited for the benefit of the Irish people. As regards safety, first, I ask the Minister to adopt these two amendments.

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