Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 315: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the potential revenue that could be achieved annually if a levy of 10% was to be applied to the value of all natural resources mined off Irish shores in Irish-owned seas. [21058/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The revenue to be achieved by a 10% levy on natural resources extracted offshore in Ireland would depend on a range of factors, including the capital cost of extraction, quantities and grades of resources extracted and the price of the extracted material over the life of the extraction of the resource. In the case of non-petroleum minerals, there is no production from the Irish offshore at present so there would be no yield from such a levy. Furthermore, as there are no identified reserves or resources of non-petroleum minerals in the Irish offshore, no estimate can therefore be made of any return to the State if such a levy were applied, and any such estimate would be fraught, depending on estimates of factors such as those set out above.

In the case of petroleum, the only existing production is off Cork (Kinsale/Seven Heads) where annual production volumes for 2011 are currently estimated at 9 BCF (billion cubic feet), equal to approximately 5% of Ireland's annual demand. The actual value of this gas will depend on the price agreed between the producer and its customers.