Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte Uí Cheallaigh roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Seanad. Tá fáilte Uí Cheallaigh roimh gach uair a thagann sé isteach sa Teach seo. As the Minister of State mentioned in his opening contribution, at the height of the boom in 2006 the value of the geosciences sector to the economy was put at €4.2 billion. I must admit I was not aware of that and it comprised approximately 3% of GDP and contributed significantly to the building, energy, mining and environmental services sector. More recently, independent studies have valued the mining and related industries alone at €800 million per annum, which, as the Minister of State indicated, represents 1,400 jobs. Moreover, most of these jobs are located in rural areas where jobs are required and it is great to see that happening. The Irish oil and gas industry, while consisting of only two producing gas fields with a third under development, is considered to have real potential for further discoveries and I understand a further licensing round will take place next year.

I wish to say a few words in respect of the mapping of the seabed. The integrated mapping for the sustainable development of Ireland's marine resource, INFOMAR, programme is Ireland's national marine mapping programme and aims to complete the survey of all of Ireland's marine territory. The programme, funded by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, is managed by the GSI in conjunction with the Marine Institute and next year will reach a major milestone with the completion of the first phase of the inshore mapping. While the coastline was being mapped off the coast of my native county of Louth, I had the opportunity to be invited out onto the ship, the name of which I have forgotten. All Oireachtas Members were invited aboard and it was an absolutely wonderful experience to see that Ireland has equipment capable of doing what they were doing out there. I also should add they were men who were very happy at their work. It was a wonderful experience and I am glad I took it up.

The Minister of State mentioned that the Tellus programme is carrying out airborne geophysical surveying and ground, soil and water sampling to create new geological and environmental datasets. The surveying of Northern Ireland has already been completed by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland in the first instance of the programme. As I come from the Border county of Louth, I was aware of the aeroplanes that were taking part in this worthwhile project. To date, the GSI has surveyed almost all of the Border counties under the INTERREG-funded Tellus Border phase and is completing work in counties Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon as part of the Tellus North Midlands survey. An increased funding allocation for the Tellus programme has been approved in the budget for 2015 and will result in further data acquisition, which in turn will result in new maps and products. Significantly, these will not simply be for geology but will include soil chemistry maps of use in agriculture and airborne-derived radon maps for use in human health planning.

The issue of fracking has been mentioned by many of my colleagues and I am also concerned because I have had meetings with many communities with deep concerns as to what may happen to, for instance, the water courses or whatever. I would like to be convinced that fracking will not harm the nation's underground water sources. However, the Minister of State should be aware that communities are very fearful. Níl rud éigean eile le rá agam except that the outreach and education activities must be mentioned. I am unsure whether the Minister of State mentioned this aspect but the GSI engages in extensive outreach activities to both the professional and educational sectors. This ranges from a major presence at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for a number of years to the provision of a geoscience textbook for the second-level leaving certificate geography curriculum, as well as participation at events such as the National Ploughing Championships.