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

I will put it in the boot of the car and deliver it, like another Minister of State used to do with telephones many years ago. Those of us on this side of the House are at least as enthusiastic as Deputy Fleming about the possibility of an oil strike off the Irish offshore. That is the kind of fillip the industry needs. There is a great deal of excitement around at the moment. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, who is more hands-on in this regard than I am, advises me that eight of the 13 licences have already been converted, which means there will be exploration. It is possible that two more of them will follow suit. We hope one of them is positive. If we are to test Deputy Fleming's theory, we have to get more activity off the Irish offshore.

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