Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Apr 1943

Vol. 89 No. 14

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Oil Supplies.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that fish oil in a crude state is used in certain places on the west coast as a substitute for paraffin oil for domestic use; if he can state whether there is any machinery in the country for refining such oil; and, if so, whether he will use the resources at his disposal for the production of lamp oil from large quantities of the inedible fish such as basking sharks; and, further, whether he will examine the possibility of using the residue thereof as a fertiliser.

Some time ago my Department, in consultation with the Emergency Scientific Research Bureau, the Department of Agriculture, the Irish Sea Fisheries Association, and certain commercial firms and experts, examined very closely the question of the production and refining of fish oil, and numerous experiments were carried out. While it is established that there is machinery in the country which could be used for the purpose, the conclusion reached was that the production and refining of fish oil would not be warranted by the results which it might be expected to obtain. The chief factors operating against the proposal are:—The uncertainty of supplies of fish at various seasons and at different parts of the coast; the difficulty, particularly in present circumstances, of transporting the fish to the refining plant; the extremely high cost of refined fish oil; and the practical impossibility of deodorising the fish oil. In view of the conclusions reached regarding the question of fish oil, the question of using the residue as a fertiliser was not examined in detail.

Top
Share