Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 18, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:"(c) the requirement for any operator, who is granted an exploration licence or petroleum prospecting licence by the Minister, to put a bond in place, so that in the event of the decommissioning of petroleum infrastructure, the licensee not dismantling the infrastructure within 2 years of extraction being stopped, all cost associated with the decommissioning can be recouped by the State from the bond;".

We should have a bond in place to make sure that if petroleum extraction or exploratory drilling take place or a licence is given and the infrastructure is not put back or dismantled properly, there is no cost to the State and any costs of decommissioning the entire oil rig, for the want of a better word, are recouped by the State. This is a sensible amendment that could be inserted in that section.

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