No debate is needed on the question of single hull vessels that are used as oil tankers on our seas. Many of the worst pollution disasters have been caused by damage to these vessels and we must apply as much pressure as possible on those countries and companies which continue to use single-hull vessels to discontinue the practice in the best interests of global society. We have too many examples over the last 30 or 40 years, of which the French experience is only one, of massive damage being done to our environment, in many of those cases in circumstances that could have been relatively easily avoided. We have suffered our own share of oil pollution and one need look no further back than the Whiddy Island disaster when the Betelgeuse exploded with the loss of 50 lives. Of less significance, though extremely important in their own right, were the huge environmental and legal problems it caused.