Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The second point is that there is nothing preventing - the former Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, understands this well - the Minister for Finance of the day addressing the fiscal regime in any area of the economy which he or she believes appropriate at any time. That applies to this regime as well. That is the competence of the Minister for Finance and it is untrammelled.

It is important, now that the evaluation is concluding in my Department, that I get on with the authorisation of this licensing round. It is for a relatively small area, 6%, of the Atlantic margin. Let the Oireachtas committee take what evidence it wishes from whomsoever it wishes and for as long as it likes, and then let it come to conclusions. However, that will take a considerable length of time in my opinion.

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