Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The purpose behind what we are doing is using a resource that has not heretofore been exploited in order to create employment, generate earnings for the State and, in the process, diminish our imports in terms of fossil fuels. There is very careful strategic consideration behind what we are doing. It provides the opportunity for a new export sector in Ireland. The scale of it remains to be seen but Deputy Colreavy knows that a number of developers of scale are interested in the agreement I recently signed with my counterpart in London. The signing was in Dublin but I meant my counterpart in the British Government. There are a number of developers of scale who are interested in making that agreement work and, in the process, creating employment here.

See this speech in context