Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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My Department requires licensed operators to comply with best international practice when undertaking drilling operations and while there are no drilling operations underway in the Irish offshore at this time, under the Rules and Procedures for offshore petroleum exploration, responsibility for any clean-up costs that might arise as a result of a drilling accident rest with the licence operator.

The key to avoiding incidents that could have a negative impact on safety or the environment is to have an industry that operates to best international practice together with a robust regulatory approach. As a consequence of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, my Department introduced additional special drilling oversight measures which including more frequent inspections and verification that all equipment, systems and procedures are in place to allow operations to proceed safely and without polluting the environment. These additional measures are designed to support the rigorous implementation of the existing robust regulatory approach that is applied to each well drilled in the Irish offshore.

In light of the Deepwater Horizon accident, the EU Commission is reviewing existing European legislation applying to the offshore exploration and production industry and has signalled that it will bring forward proposals in 2011 which will inter alia deal with liability for clean up costs that might arise as a result of a major drilling incident.