John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

Counties Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wicklow all have gas supplies, yet Wexford, which they surround, has none. On many occasions we asked Bord Gáis to consider extending to Wexford and were told this would happen after its next review. Those reviews came and went and so did the following ones. Less than a year ago I was told that extension might happen on the next review but that one has also come and gone. Bord Gáis claims that bringing supply to Wexford is not justified.

It is neither fair nor equitable that Wexford should continue at a disadvantage to other counties in respect of attracting new industries and supplying and maintaining those already there. There is a great opportunity. The ESB station at Great Island has been sold to a Spanish company which obviously has plans for the future. Experts tell me that the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to bring gas to Wexford is from Waterford, via New Ross, supplying Great Island and the other industries there and extending into the greater Wexford area.

Wexford has significant industries. As Deputy Hayes said, many of them are currently under pressure with fuel, high energy and other related charges. It is very important that Wexford be considered in this major €2 billion expansion programme by Bord Gáis Éireann. There are many ways of extending the pipeline. I suggested the Waterford route but it might equally come from Arklow or Carlow which both border County Wexford. There are a number of ways of extending the pipeline to Wexford at a low and reasonable cost. It would be a great advantage in supporting the industries already there and would help them to expand. More important, it would be a cornerstone in attracting new industry to the county.

I ask the Minister to consider seriously the suggestion I made about extending the line to Wexford. We need this now and have been fobbed off by Bord Gáis for years, despite repeated promises from the company. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Ryan, is a very fair man and he will want the people of Wexford, businesspeople and consumers alike, to have the same gas supply enjoyed by almost every other county. Eighteen other counties have supply as do a number of counties in Northern Ireland. I have no problem with that but it is the right time to extend supply to my county, which is also the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's county. If the Minister can do that we will say he has done a good job in his Department.

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