Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Yes, it has. It is only possible to obtain EIB loans for projects which the bank approves and where matching or better State financing is being put up. We are not remotely in that space. We should bear in mind that there is no template here and no intergovernmental agreement in place. If something emerges from our negotiations with Britain, it will be the first such agreement as between any two trading states. If we can, as I am confident we will, develop an export capacity in this area, it will be one of the most exciting developments in the industrial sector in decades. The notion that we can exploit a plentiful indigenous resource and that a neighbouring island has a matching need in order to meet its renewable targets and energy requirement, which would suggest a win-win situation, is a very exciting prospect. We are proceeding with all haste in this matter.

Deputy Mick Wallace is correct in his observation regarding our dependence on oil and our enormous import bill of some €6 billion per annum. What we are discussing here will certainly facilitate our efforts to reduce that dependency, ensure greater reliability of renewables and, in the process, provide cheaper power to consumers and businesses. The Corrib gas field, about which Deputy Bernard Durkan expressed concern some moments ago, will supply 60% of our need at peak, but it will not, unless we are successful off Dalkey, obviate the necessity to continue importing oil. One never knows what might happen and there would be a considerable welcome in the area for a major oil field. In the absence of such a discovery, we must import oil. Our objective is to reduce that dependence and enhance the reliability of renewables.

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