Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I presume the report to which Deputy Martin Ferris referred will result in the House discussing many of the issues Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan raises. His question relates to the suggestion that "an offer of a half share of ownership be made to the Norwegian state in return for managing the natural resources in our territorial waters". If he looks at the Marine Institute map of Ireland, he will find that more of this country's territory lies offshore than onshore. I would not contemplate the notion of handing over half of our offshore natural resources to another country.

I am not sure what is the point of the proposal, given that our problem is one of finding oil rather than managing our resources. If we find oil, there is sufficient talent in the country to manage it. The problem, however, is that the strike rate since the 1970s has been very disappointing. We have had only three gas strikes, with one further strike in prospect, and no oil strikes. How Norway comes into the equation is beyond me. There are no similarities between Ireland and Norway in this regard, a view borne out by the submission the Norwegian ambassador made to the joint committee of which Deputy Ferris is a member. Norway has a strike rate of approximately one in four and a uniquely advantageous geology. Furthermore, the Norwegian Government refunds 78% of the cost of a dry well, so confident is it of strikes in its waters. This confidence is also reflected in the tax rate applied to oil and gas in Norway. If one drills dry wells, it does not matter whether the tax rate is 0%, 40% or 80% because it is still 0%, 40% or 80% of nothing. Our problem has been one of getting exploration activity offshore in the hope it will be possible to make a find. We do not need another country to do that for us.

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