Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did. It was along the lines of the Oireachtas committee report. My legislation addresses the need for a social clause to be included in contracts with oil and gas companies. I am sorry, I wish to correct a point. I am not allowed to include tax rates in legislation under Standing Orders, but I included a clause to encourage the Minister to do so. Social clauses have been used to good effect in the Six Counties. One example of this is the construction of the Peace Bridge in Derry. Due to the high levels of unemployment that currently exist in the country and the fact that so many of our unemployed are young, skilled tradespeople it is imperative that all future contracts contain a social clause which will lead to the hire of people from the locality in any exploration and extraction of oil and gas. This would provide for a holistic approach.

I wish to highlight several aspects of the Minister's statement, which I welcome. I am pleased that the process has moved on from a committee report to receiving active consideration. I understand the point the Minister is making. A certain hope held out in the 1970s. Naturally, we hope that Ireland's oil and gas will be as good as Norway's, but Norway decided initially to leave it there and not touch it. The Department is currently engaged in a review of the 1960 Act. Will the Minister ensure that careful attention is paid to the approach of these investors? The oil and gas companies seem to have adopted a strategy of legal action against countries in which they believe the regulatory frameworks are too tight and that must be addressed. I understand discussions and negotiations are ongoing in respect of an economic and trade agreement between the European Union and Canada that would make this even easier. I find it extraordinary that any politician would make it easier for companies to take legal action against his country and its finances.

The Minister referred to the Corrib field and acknowledged that the eye was taken off the ball. The fact is the eye was in the wrong field and the damage was done by the time the eye went back on the ball and that is what was wrong. People hear about consultation and that there will be full consultation and so on. However they find that the key decisions have been made before anyone meets a group of local people to tell them how it is going to happen. That is not consultation. Better decisions could have been made if those who mooted the project involved local people from the outset, because local people know better than anyone about the problems that will arise in their areas. However, that did not happen. Decisions were made and subsequently communicated and we know the result. Certainly, the good people of Mayo are not the cause of this country losing €100 million in taxation, it is the result of a flawed approach by those who implemented the project in the first place. If we have learned nothing else, we should have learned that.

The committee report does not argue for outlandish or Norwegian rates of tax. It argues for rates of tax to be linked to the size of the field. There are two issues. We need to entice companies in for exploration. The second element is the extraction and sell-off on the world market. The committee report suggests that the bigger the deposit and the bigger the income from it, the higher the rate of taxation. I believe that is a good suggestion. It is fair and it has been used in other jurisdictions.

The Minister stated, "With this in mind and having regard to the fact that the most recent review of the fiscal terms took place in 2007, I intend, following the conclusion of this debate, to seek further independent expert advice on the fitness for purpose of Ireland's fiscal terms". I welcome that statement. However, I would also welcome if the Minister would get a report on the whole issue of exploratory licences and operational licences to ensure that it is open, transparent and incapable of being manipulated by those who might have ulterior motives or motives of greed, such as those involved in what happened before. It is not simply a question of the fitness of our fiscal terms, the whole process must be looked at and I would have welcomed this report far more had that been included.

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