Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

conscious of the declaration in the Democratic Programme that 'the Nation's sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation's soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation'; and

in view of the vast untapped potential that exists off our shores in oil and gas reserves, estimated by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in 2006 to be ten billion barrels oil equivalent, which at current prices amounts to a potential value of around €700 billion;

calls for:

-- a complete review of licensing and revenue terms and the immediate revoking of the consents given to the Corrib consortium and the licence for Lough Allen pending such a review;

-- the establishment of a State oil, gas and mineral exploration company that would hold a 51% majority share in all oil and gas finds and would have its own research facility in order to collect full and up to date information on reserves;

-- the imposition of a 50% tax on oil and gas profits; and

-- a 7.5% royalty;

and that the revenues that would accrue from this would provide towards the resources for long term and sustainable growth in place of the current indenture to the EU and IMF because of the unsustainable bank debt.

May I share time with my colleagues, Deputies Adams, Ó Snodaigh, Ellis and Crowe?

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