asked the Minister for Industry and Energy the amount of profit projected for this year by (a) Bord na Móna and (b) Bord Gáis Éireann.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Semi-State Companies' Profits.
1.
The projected profit for Bord na Móna for the year to 31 March 1984 is £14.5 million. This surplus is used towards debt repayment and the financing of the bog development programme.
Bord Gáis Éireann are projecting a profit of £67.1 million for the year ending 31 December 1983.
The Minister will recognise that one of the factors causing concern in industrial development is the high cost of energy, particularly ESB charges, and in view of that would it not be better to use some of the £14.5 million profit by Bord na Móna to reduce electricity prices? The same should apply in regard to Bord Gáis.
That is a separate question.
It is not. The Minister of State told the House the use to which the profits of Bord na Móna were being put and I am suggesting an alternative use for those profits, a reduction in the cost of energy to industry. Surely that is relevant.
The Deputy may be overlooking the fact that the question as framed is in the nature of a statistical one.
The reply given by the Minister of State extended beyond statistics into bog development and debt repayments. I am suggesting an additional use for the profits would be to reduce the overall high cost of energy particularly for industry.
In the course of his contribution to Private Members' Business on Tuesday the Minister indicated that he would be looking at the cost of turf to the ESB. That is a different matter from the use Bord na Móna put their surplus to. For the information of the House I should like to say that the total borrowings outstanding on the capital account of Bord na Móna is £102 million and the overdraft on current expenditure is £3.4 million. Obviously, those debts must be met at some stage.
Realising that the Minister's function is restricted as far as Bord Gáis, the ESB and Bord na Móna are concerned, I should like to ask him to suggest, with the greatest possible courtesy, to Bord na Móna that they consider directing some millions of their profits towards a reduction in the price of fuel sold to the ESB. I am referring in particular to the generating stations in the constituency of Laois-Offaly.
That matter would be more appropriate for the debate on the motion being taken in Private Members' Time.
It might not be any harm if the Minister gave Bord na Móna a gentle hint to consider my suggestion in view of the ESB problems.
The Minister said on Tuesday that he would look at the pricing structure of turf supplied to the ESB.
Has the Minister a breakdown of how the profits of Bord na Móna and Bord Gáis are derived? What portion of the profits are derived from sales to the ESB?
I do not have that breakdown but I will have the information communicated to the Deputy. It may also be contained in the annual report of the board.
In view of the colossal profit of An Bord Gáis, the present state of our food processing industry and the high cost of imports will the Minister consider a change in policy and make natural gas available to the food processing industry at the same rate that it is available to other industries?
That is a separate question. The question under discussion is a statistical one and we cannot have a debate on it.
I have been seeking a reply to that question since last November.
The Deputy should table a question.