Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis na daoine a scríobh an Bille. We should acknowledge the work of the officials in consolidating this legislation. It is legislation that goes back to the 1940s. We have to acknowledge it was no easy task to do such a thing. It is important that we acknowledge the work the officials have done on this. I will be very brief. We are supporting the Bill. I will add my name to the list of people who wish to raise the issue of dolomite and dolomitic limestone. I have a submission and I am sure other Members have the same submission on the interpretation of minerals. The Minister of State dealt with this in the Seanad. There is a definition of minerals which attempts to provide clarity on where limestone ends and where dolomitic limestone starts. The Minister of State has given some indication that he will deal with this on Committee Stage. I will read an extract from correspondence I received:

Section 2 Interpretation "Minerals" attempts to provide clarity on the definition of where limestone ends and dolomitic limestone starts.

"Section 2  Interpretation “Minerals”  (f) dolomitic limestone that occurs in association with dolomite in a deposit where dolomite is less than 85 per cent of the deposit;”

My correspondent states there is a difficulty with this implementation:

The implementation of what is Dolomitic Limestone and what is limestone is subjective. Inconsistent implementation under the current Minerals Act has been very subjective where large scale Multi National Companies have exploited deposits of dolomitic limestone ... This section had the potential for distortion of the market where one deposit is considered limestone and another Dolomitic Limestone.

He goes on to say: 

Examples of where dolomite products compete with limestone products in the same market place is in refractory production, (one company uses limestone and salt water in the production of high end refractory for furnaces without contributing any royalty, yet to produce similar refractory with a Dolomitic Limestone a royalty payment would be compulsory).

These are issues that are familiar to the officials. They are familiar to the Minister. I want to state them for the public record. If there is a mechanism to deal with this by way of Government amendment on Committee Stage, we would welcome such a clarification. I see no need to delay proceedings tonight. We are in favour of the Bill. I acknowledge the work of the officials and if the issue of dolomite and dolomitic extraction is dealt with, we will be very satisfied.

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