Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am grateful to Deputy Carey for raising this important issue. I begin with the positive position that the Irish offshore has recognised potential as a petroleum-producing area. However, while I recently made the announcement to which Deputy Carey refers in respect of the outcome of the 2011 licensing round, which resulted in the offer of 13 licensing options in the Atlantic margin, the reality is it will be some time before any of these could turn into exploration drilling. Overall, for the coming years the level of exploration activity requiring specialist port services is likely to be low, with on average only one to two exploration wells drilled in the Irish offshore annually. In the near term, it is expected the majority of drilling in the offshore will take place in the Celtic Sea and is most likely to be serviced by the ports on the south coast.

We also need to recognise that several Irish ports are well located to act as the service port for exploration activity off the west coast, including the ports of Foynes and Killybegs. The Port of Foynes has traditionally served as the oil and gas exploration support base in the Shannon Estuary. It has all the basic port requirements including good road access and bunkering. However, as there has been more activity off the north-west coast in recent years, principally associated with the development of the Corrib gas field, this work has been serviced from Killybegs.

Turning specifically to Moneypoint, as raised by Deputy Carey, this is a key part of the national strategic Infrastructure. It generates a substantial portion of Ireland's electricity demand and it provides important fuel diversity for the country. The jetty at Moneypoint is a large and specialised structure designed specifically to off-load coal from bulk ships up to approximately 200,000 tonne capacities. As such, the jetty has large conveyor belts running along its full length and also has two large ship unloaders, all of which are capable of handling only solid bulk material such as coal. Obviously, the continued use of this equipment is vital to maintain operations at Moneypoint. There are not currently facilities or space on the jetty for handling materials or services that might be associated with the oil exploration industry.

It is also important to note that the Moneypoint coal-fired power plant has a number of key roles including generation, dual-fuel capability and on-site fuel storage, which make it subject to specific environmental constraints under the large combustion plant directive, the national emissions ceiling directive, the emissions trading directive, the IPPC directive and the ambient air quality directive.

The ESB generating station at Moneypoint is the most important power station in the national emissions reduction plan, NERP. The air emissions targets set out in the NERP are dependent on reductions in emissions from Moneypoint. Having already invested significantly in the Moneypoint environmental retrofit project to reduce sulphur dioxide, SO2, and oxides of nitrogen, NOx, emissions, the ESB is keeping abreast of technological developments in this area through its membership of industry bodies, including the Electric Power Research Institute, EURELECTRIC, VGB, the Edison Electric Institute and the Association of Edison Illumination Companies.

Having regard to hydrocarbon exploration activity for the foreseeable future and the nature of the Moneypoint facility, at this stage it is too early to identify the location that would best serve an eventual oil or gas production location that will hopefully develop in the Atlantic. It is also important to appreciate that once a discovery is made, it will take some time to bring it to development. Because of that time lag I must admit that I have not focused on the important point raised by Deputy Carey but I assure him that I will now do so.

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