Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important debate, one that transcends each Department because it is all about the collective performance of the Government and the collective changes made. This brings us to the most important issue, employment. The key issue raised by Deputy Finian McGrath was job creation. Where the Government is working most of all is in creating new employment. This week some 62,000 more people are at work than at this time last year, which is a significant change. It brings hope to people and an income to a family. It also creates an incentive to go out to work. That is what reforms do for us.

In my position in the Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources I am working on the area of natural resources, a key wealth creator across mining and inland fisheries. It is a significant source of employment and makes a real contribution to our economic welfare and revenue base. The significance is that in 2012 Ireland was Europe's largest producer of zinc metal in concentrate, with 32% of all European zinc mine output, and the tenth largest producer in the world. Output in mining, as measured by sales turnover, amounted to €426 million that year, directly supporting almost 1,400 jobs and nearly 2,000 additional jobs across other sectors. A significant share of the revenue went directly into the economy, including over €100 million in wages and salaries and €56 million in taxes and rates.

We have worked hard to achieve these successes, actively promoting exploration and updating research data, with the result that there are now over 600 mineral prospecting licences in the country, the highest ever. The extent of our effort and success is recognised in the international benchmark report of the Canadian-based Frazier Institute. The most recent report, published this week, ranks Ireland fourth in the world among 112 jurisdictions for good mining policy. We are up there with countries and areas such as Sweden, Finland, Canada, western Australia, Nevada in the USA, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, and Norway. We have maintained our top ten placing in successive years and scored highly across key categories, including infrastructure, quality of the geological database, taxation, socioeconomic and community development conditions and security.

I also work in the area of offshore oil and exploration. Those with the resources and a willingness to invest in high cost and high risk offshore exploration have real choices in where they choose to invest dollars, pounds, euro or yen. In the final quarter of 2013 almost 20 countries had licensing rounds, including Libya, Egypt, Malaysia, Angola, Australia and New Zealand. Ireland competes for exploration dollars in a competitive world and we have worked hard to revise our regulatory regime and increase research support to the sector with the objective of increasing interest in the Irish offshore. Against the background of limited interest in Irish offshore exploration - there were only two applicants for the 2009 round and for the same block - the 2011 Atlantic round marked a fundamental new departure by offering acreage on Ireland's Atlantic margin and permitting entry at significantly lower cost without a drilling commitment. This approach proved to be successful and saw significantly increased interest. A total of ten of the 13 licence options have turned into full frontier exploration licences and we now have the highest ever level of offshore authorisations. We are about to embark on the next Atlantic margin licensing round. Building on this momentum is key and last November I announced at the annual Atlantic Ireland conference the parameters of Ireland's next licensing round which will include all of Ireland's major Atlantic basins, offer two year licensing options and close in September 2015. The formal launch of the opening of the round, complete with full details, is planned for later this year. Advance notice was important to industry in order that it could make timely decisions on devoting resources to planning for participation. It also provides sufficient clarity for seismic contractors considering new data acquisition in 2014 and will allow time for applications under the round to be informed by data from new surveys.

In recent years we have significantly adapted our licensing regime, building on regulatory changes with regard to planning consent and safety. We are taking two further initiatives, one of which is a review of our fiscal terms.

In the context of both public and parliamentary debate regarding the fiscal terms for oil and gas production, independent expert advice has been procured to examine the fitness for purpose of Ireland's fiscal terms. Wood Mackenzie is the company appointed to provide advice on the fiscal gain that is achievable for the State and its citizens, together with the mechanisms best suited to produce such a gain. This firm has been selected in accordance with EU tender procedures and is a global leader in commercial intelligence for the energy, metals and mining industries.

While there are many comments on our existing terms and their evolution, we should not overlook the fact that 2012 saw one well drilled in the Irish offshore area and three fields producing 0.4 billion cu. m of gas and no oil. By comparison, in Norway 172 wells were drilled and 77 fields produced 114.8 billion cu. m of gas and 694 million barrels of oil. We must really concentrate on these facts.

Ireland's regional seismic survey, which commenced in June last year, is by far the largest regional seismic survey ever of the Irish offshore area, and its aim is to address one of the most glaring data gaps. Full-fold seismic data on over 10,000 km were acquired in 2013 and the second-phase 2014 programme will seek to bring the total coverage to a figure as close as possible to 18,000 km. The processing of the raw data from 2013 is under way with the aim of having this available for release at the same time as the launch of the next licensing round.

The 18,000 km full-fold seismic survey is also designed to fill in data gaps that exist, particularly in the Southern Porcupine, Rockall and Hatton basins. Most important, the survey should go a long way towards revealing the true oil and gas potential of Ireland's frontier basins. The total cost will be of the order of €20 million and is being funded from leveraged industry contributions. When complete, this will provide a regional grid of high quality seismic data over Ireland's frontier basins and should allow resource potential to be predicted with much greater confidence and enable both the industry and the Government to evaluate adequately future licensing opportunities.

As Minister of State with responsibility for natural resources, my remit covers the Geological Survey of Ireland, GSI. Aside from its role in the provision of geological information and planning tools as the geoscience agency for Ireland, it is also involved in a number of specific initiatives. INFOMAR, for example, is a flagship national scale project. This long-term programme maps out all of our valuable marine territory, which is almost ten times our landmass. It is being undertaken in conjunction with the Marine Institute and is funded by my Department. Previous studies have shown that the return on investment is over four times the cost of data acquisition, and this return is spread across multiple sectors, public and private, multinationals, SMEs and research organisations. In 2013, the project was again reviewed externally and was deemed successful and on track, and the Government committed €15 million in the period to 2018 to support this world-class endeavour. As important as the data are, they are not simply being collected as an end in themselves as they are also being used to encourage the development of offshore energy, with the mapping being key to identifying suitable sites and cable routes for wind, wave and tidal generators; safer offshore navigation, with new charts recently produced for Dublin Bay and Kinsale; modelling of tides and currents, which is vital for the aquaculture and costal protection engineers; and production of maps on the nature of the seabed, be it mud, sand or gravel, to assist with environmental protection and more efficient fishing practices.

Jobs and job creation are at the heart of what we are doing. In the geoscience sector, we have worked with Enterprise Ireland to form a business cluster, Geoscience Ireland. There is an acknowledged need to internationalise the skills and services provided by the wider geological community, and that is what we are doing.

We spent €5 million on the Tellus Border project. With regard to counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and my county, Louth, we now have scientific data on soils, water and rock content with detail almost specific to each farm. Every single farmer will have a formula allowing for the purchase of fertilizer specific to his land. The project also helps to identify mineral resources such as gold. There is a gold map that we should all have a good look at. I hope that it will result in the development of a mining industry in areas where there would not otherwise be employment.

See this speech in context