Vol. 370 No. 3
asked the Minister for Energy if he has received a feasibility study of a reported coalfield under the Irish Sea; if his Department has arrived at any decisions regarding the possible development of the field; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
23.
asked the Minister for Energy if there are any proposals to mine the coalfields under the Irish Sea, off the east coast of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
30.
asked the Minister for Energy if he will make a statement on the up-to-date information regarding the lead-zinc find at Galmoy, County Kilkenny, and any new information on the extent of the coal deposits in Dublin Bay.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4, 23 and 30 together.
Exploration is taking place at Galmoy under a prospecting licence granted by my Department. There have been encouraging results from prospecting in the area but I am unable to make a detailed statement in the matter because information furnished by prospecting companies is treated as confidential by my Department during the currency of the licence.
I received a report from the Geological Survey on the possibility of viable coal deposits in the Kish Bank basin. The Geological Survey are currently completing their preparation of a document drawing together all the departmental material on hand on the subject. It is my intention to publicise the availability of this material shortly and to indicate my Department's readiness to consider applications for exploration facilities in the area.
The amount of information available at present on the coal resources in the basin is too limited to arrive at any firm conclusions at this stage on their commercial mining potential.
Is the Minister aware——
A Cheann Comhairle, you have taken a number of questions together——
I fully appreciate that, but Deputy De Rossa's question comes before Deputy Molloy's on the Order Paper.
May I——
The Chair has reasons for doing things, but if he ceases to have reasons for doing things he will drift into trouble where he does not intend——
I am sure the Minister is aware of press reports that there has been a significant coal find in the Kish area. Has there been any discussion on or thought given to how such a find might be developed? Will he indicate that it is his intention to ensure that the State retains control of any such finds, and that he does not permit cowboy companies to come in and rip it out and leave the State without anything?
I shall be very wary of cowboys, as I have been in the past and I intend to be in the future. It would be premature to attempt to have any discussion on this at present. Soon a report will be available to the House and to anybody concerned about coal deposits in the Kish Bank basin, which I hope to have published before Christmas. At that stage a discussion could take place. The Deputy is aware of my own political and personal views on the development of natural resources, and if the State is in a position to develop these resources I would like to see it doing so.
Is it not true that the discovery of large coal deposits in the Irish Sea was made a number of years ago? In what year were the Government first made aware of these coal deposits? What have the Department been doing in the meantime to see how these deposits could be exploited for the benefit of the Irish people?
The information available to me is that it was in 1982 that a company called British Mining Consultants — as part of a study of the Irish onshore and offshore coal resources — produced a report on the Irish offshore. My Department would have been examining the technical aspects of that report in relation to the development of offshore coal, which is something we have not done in the past to my knowledge. Obviously they would have had discussions with people with technical experience and ability in this area. Any discussions in relation to the long term prospects and so on would be far more constructive when the report of the Geological Survey Office is published.
Is the Minister saying that the first knowledge the Government obtained of the large coal deposits was in 1982? I understood that that information was available to the Department many years before that?
In fairness a historical question was not asked in relation to when there might have been indications of coal in the Irish offshore area. The information available to me is that there was a study undertaken in 1982 by British Mining Consultants.
I find the Minister's answer most unsatisfactory. It seems to indicate a lackadaisical approach on his part and that of his Department with regard to steps I believe they should have taken to exploit this resource at a much earlier stage. I understand that the Minister's Department have been aware of this since the late seventies.
The Deputy cannot make a speech about it.
I agree with the Minister that there was a study undertaken. I happened to be Minister in 1982 and there was certainly a study undertaken then. My recollection is that it was about 1979 that the initial discoveries were made. I do not think very many people knew then.
It is amazing that the Minister knows so very little about it.
Has the Minister had any reports made to him of the possibility of gasifying those deposits because I understand there has been a recent study undertaken in relation to gasifying the deposits in the Kish basin?
I am aware that a certain amount of study has been undertaken on that aspect but it is early days yet to examine the total technological possibilities of this find. For the benefit of the House I should say that in June 1981 the then Minister for Energy directed the Geological Survey Office to carry out a feasibility study and their report will be published before Christmas.
Is the Minister satisfied that he has available to him all the information in relation to the up-to-date position at Galmoy in County Kilkenny, having referred to the very high fluctuations in the stock market in recent weeks?
I think that is contained in another question.
No, it is in this one, a Cheann Comhairle. I have no difficulty answering that question. I am quite satisfied that the procedures agreed between my Department and the various mining companies are satisfactory and reasonably up-to-date. I am sure the Deputy will recall from his own days in the Department of Energy that there is a very important question of confidentiality involved during the currency of the licence, and that all of this information becomes public in due course. I am quite satisfied, both from the point of view of confidentiality and of information being passed to my Department, that I am getting adequate and up-to-date information.
Can the Minister confirm to the House that the ownership of the minerals in and around Galmoy has already been defined? We do not want another Bula-Tara situation.
I know that information to date indicates that the minerals on the Galmoy site are in private ownership.
Not Land Commission land?
Private ownership.
Private ownership arising from Land Commission land?
I do not have information as to whether it is Land Commission land or otherwise but it is in private ownership. Of course the Deputy will be aware that, under the Minerals Development Act of 1979, the exclusive right to the working of the minerals is vested in the Minister at the day.
The Minister, in replying to my last supplementary, indicated his personal view as to how these deposits might be utilised and developed. As Minister responsible for this area can he give the House an assurance that there are no deals being done with companies for the extraction of any deposits that may be there which would leave the State unable to gain revenue from them or ensure the best use of the coal for the benefit of industry and so on in this country?
I am not quite sure what the Deputy is implying in relation to deals being done. There are procedures laid down by statute in relation to the consideration of mining applications. There is no application on hand in relation to development at this time.
Can the Minister give an assurance that any licences he issues for prospecting do not have conditions included which would allow those people to have control over what they find?
The Deputy wanted information in relation to deals — I regret the use of the word by him but that is his terminology. No deals have been done. Applications will always be examined in the normal manner.
Is the Minister taking Questions Nos. 5 and 10 together?
No, a Cheann Comhairle, I am taking Question No. 5 separately.
