asked the Minister for Energy if his Department has at any stage made any representations to the Australian Government with a view to purchasing coal for this country; and if he will make a statement on this matter.
Written Answers. - Purchase of Australian Coal.
331.
Last year representations were made at my request to the Federal authorities in Australia about the supply of coal to this country with particular reference to the ESB interest in obtaining supplies of steam coal for their new Moneypoint station. The Australian Government representatives indicated that they would sympathetically consider any requests for Australian coal. In this regard there were recent discussions between the ESB and Australian coal interests about coal supplies to the ESB, but no firm contracts have been entered into as yet.
This country imported some 20,000 tonnes of Australian coal in 1979 and 2,000 tonnes in 1980 all of which was for the domestic sector. The coal industry in Australia concentrates on producing industrial coal for which there is limited demand in this country at present. However, the demand for such coal will likely increase substantially as part of my policy of encouraging a switch away from hydrocarbon oils.