Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

With respect, the Minister of State is missing the point I am trying to make. Putting a safety framework in place is essentially a policy direction. Yes, there will be an element of accepting from the public views, considerations, concerns and so on and I accept that. However, I do not believe this will happen. Unless one is dealing with the specifics of a project, namely, a safety case or a decision regarding a permit for a certain project, the local communities in question will not become involved in the consultation process. There must be some way of reassuring local communities that a project that will impact on their environment and, potentially, on their way of life and property is safe, properly thought out and has been through all the necessary permit arrangements. My party's proposal is to give those people a say, if they want it, when the safety framework is being put in place. Otherwise they would not even know it was going on. This is head in the sand stuff. They will not even know that a project will affect them in the future until they see a safety case that relates to a petroleum project and the permitting of that project. That is what will get the interest of local communities. Otherwise we will be telling them they did not make a contribution to the generalised safety framework which was made six months before. They would not have done this because they would not even know it was happening.

It is when a community is concerned and potentially confused about the impact and safety consequences of a project that we must ensure the people have their say and that there is a proper information flow between the CER and the public to ensure that people do not believe in conspiracy theories and that they understand there is a regulator which considers their safety concerns to be of paramount importance. The permit stage, when a decision is being made to allow a project go ahead, is when the public must have information and the chance to formulate and ask questions. We do not provide for that anywhere in this Bill and as a result there will be repeats of what we experienced in Corrib, namely, ugly and damaging scenes that not only damaged Ireland's reputation in respect of investment and the encouragement of future oil and gas exploration but also was very damaging to the local communities involved. I believe the Minister is making a mistake and for that reason I shall press amendment No. 32.

See this speech in context