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

Earlier this year, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture produced a report, which had the unanimous support and backing of its members, on offshore exploration by the oil and gas industries. In preparing this report, the joint committee sought advice from the Norwegian oil ministry and the Norwegian ambassador and other interest groups also appeared before it. The report is available and I understand it is probably in the Minister's office. It should be considered in respect of exploiting this potential for the benefit of all the people and not for the oil companies or for a golden circle. The potential of two discoveries off Dunquin and off the South Porcupine Basin offers quite substantial hope for the economy if they are used properly for the common good. The tax regime that forms part of that potential should be consistent with the proposals in the aforementioned joint committee's report.

I also wish to bring to the Minister of State's attention that Fenit Port, County Kerry, has a history and a great track record of servicing oil rigs off the west and south-western coasts from the 1970s and 1980s in particular. It also has available skilled personnel who worked as roustabouts or roughnecks or who worked in galleys or as derrick men and so forth. Many people there still have such experience and some people continued to work right up until the late 1990s by travelling to Aberdeen and so on. County Kerry has almost twice the national average rate of unemployment. Moreover, it received no visits from the IDA this year and nothing has come into the county in recent years. Consequently, from the perspective of the local economy, it would be essential for Fenit to be considered as a port for supplying the oil rigs off the coast.

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