Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this important report. Wood Mackenzie is well placed to produce an authoritative report. It has the experience and a broad range of resources to call upon which are an advantage in commenting on a subject that is imperative for the future development of this country. Energy is the gold of the future. In the context of climate change restrictions on conventional energy sources, including oil and gas, will become a feature of life. I have absolutely no ideological hang-ups about it one way or the other. I have been around long enough to be able to look back at the progress of oil and gas exploration in this country in the 1970s and 1980s, its success and lack of success, and the need to ensure that there were adequate and ongoing incentives to encourage exploration. I do not accept the notion that we have huge resources and the Government or some Minister is preventing their exploitation for the benefit of the Irish people. A comparison with Norway is not fair. The success rate for drills there is between 1:8 and 1:40. As a result there is more international interest in exploring in Norway and much greater success. People will want to go where the odds are better. Grateful as we are for the success of Kinsale Gas and other fields, we have not been overburdened with success.

We should not say in this House that companies or multinational corporations do not pay tax on their profits in this country. That is not true. All profits generated in this jurisdiction are subject to corporation tax. We do ourselves immense damage internationally by suggesting, and adding to the criticism from outside, that this is a tax haven. That is not true.

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