Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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545. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the location of Ireland’s oil reserves; and his plans to move these reserves onto the island of Ireland in the event of Brexit. [50145/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Ireland holds 90 days of emergency oil stocks, managed by the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA), the non-commercial state body established to manage Ireland's oil reserve. These stocks are held to ensure Ireland’s compliance with International Energy Agency (IEA) rules, and EU obligations under Directive 2009/119/EC, and are intended to be used in the event of a supply disruption.

  57% of Ireland’s stockholding is held in Ireland, 21% in the UK (9% in Northern Ireland and 12% in Scotland) and 22% within other EU member states.  Ireland has entered into bilateral agreements with those member states, including the UK, where our emergency stocks are held.

The preference to hold stocks on the island of Ireland is in line with the Government’s policy as outlined in the Energy White Paper of December 2015; however finite storage capacity within Ireland necessitates the holding of some stocks outside the jurisdiction, which is permitted  under international obligations.  Recognising that under Directive 2009/119/EC, when the UK leaves the EU, stocks held in the UK, including in Northern Ireland, may not be counted as part of our EU 90 day obligation, this issue has been raised with  the European Commission in the context of Ireland's engagement with  Brexit preparation.  Post the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, our strong preference would be that the current position remains, whereby emergency oil stocks held in the UK count as part of our EU obligation. This however depends on the detail of any final Brexit agreement between the EU and the UK. It should be noted that stocks held outside Ireland  are not impacted by Brexit in  terms of Ireland's IEA obligations.