Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In any of these matters, I am for weighing up the risks and benefits. Putting an oil rig 6 km off the coast was all risk for the public and of no benefit given the licensing regime. That is also true if the Minister is making an oblique or not-so-oblique reference to fracking. We need to examine the environmental dangers. In any event, given the licensing and taxation regime, there is nothing in it for us. Therefore, why would we even dream of taking a risk in that context? What we and the public need to know are the facts. Who wants what Coillte has, and what does it have? To make any informed judgments on these matters, we need to know what we have. I suspect that some people know a hell of a lot more about what we have and its potential than we do. It is in this context that I am asking my question. I certainly believe that the sorts of people who might buy the harvesting rights or, at a later stage, State forestry will just be interested in the quick buck rather than the sustainable management of natural resources in the interest of the people and country as a whole.

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