Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 28 Apr 1988

Vol. 379 No. 11

Written Answers. - Coal Imports.

55.

Mr. Quinn

asked the Minister for Energy the tonnage, the value and the country of origin for coal imports to Ireland for the years 1970 to 1986 inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Energy (Mr. R. Burke)

I have made available to the Deputy a copy of a table prepared by the Central Statistics Office which contains the details requested. This concerns the tonnage, the value and the country of origin of coal imports to Ireland for the years 1970 to 1986 inclusive.

Because of our limited native energy resources Ireland has a significant dependence on imported fuel. Coal has an important role to play as part of our energy policy in providing increased security of energy supplies by diversification from oil imports. For example, from 1979 to 1985 Ireland's oil requirements decreased by 37 per cent. Coal had a major part to play in displacing the level of oil imports.

Following is the table:

Imports of Coal; Briquettes, Ovoids and Similar Solid Fuels manufactured from Coal.

Country		1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975
France	MT	—	—	—	—	—	—
	£000's	25	—	78	—	—	—
Belgium and	MT	—	—	—	—	—	—
Luxembourg	£000's	39	29	—	—	—	—
Netherlands	MT	—	—	—	7,613	8,406	—
	£000's	397	406	406	158	289	—
W. Germany	MT	—	—	—	15,164	34,449	6,970
	£000's	316	225	207	332	1,250	322
G. Britain	MT	—	—	—	127,828	131,686	182,068
	£000's	1,796	2,062	1,727	1,437	2,247	4,114
N. Ireland	MT	—	—	—	312	2,215	1,467
	£000's	3	11	—	4	43	35
U.S.S.R.	MT	—	—	—	—	31,950	5,570
	£000's	—	—	—	—	524	154
Poland	MT	—	—	—	595,321	673,921	482,549
	£000's	6,532	6,066	6,558	6,346	11,832	9,919
S. Africa and	MT	—	—	—	11,910	3,504	11,200
Namibia	£000's	174	245	111	156	76	343
U.S.A.	MT	—	—	—	855	12	—
	£000's	396	363	155	17	—	—
Australia	MT	—	—	—	—	—	—
	£000's	—	—	—	—	—	—
Other	MT	—	—	—	48,488	6,639	—
Countries	£000's	38	46	158	565	106	—
Total	MT	—	—	—	807,491	892,782	689,824
	£000's	9,717	9,453	9,399	9,014	16,367	14,887

Notes:1. "Other Countries" includes countries for which data is confidential.

2. In general it should be noted that commodity detail from external trade statistics does not include:

(a) transactions (non-dutiable) of less than £100 each in 1985 and 1986;

(h) trade by firms operating from Shannon Free Airport;

and (c) postal packages not covered by customs entries.

3. Quantity data is not available for this classification for the years 1970, 1971 and 1972.

Imports of Coal; Briquettes, Ovoids and Similar Solid Fuels manufactured from Coal.

Country		1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
France	MT	15	—	—	—	18	8,126
	£000's	—	—	—	—	2	518
Belgium and	MT	496	13,114	802	2,350	4,342	—
Luxembourg	£000's	20	727	48	146	381	—
Netherlands	MT	4,797	—	580	6,523	5,525	20,326
	£000's	263	—	43	376	511	2,096
W. Germany	MT	12,068	7,771	6,270	7,647	8,962	28,515
	£000's	630	457	373	457	711	1,736
G. Britain	MT	114,710	171,315	213,079	230,191	269,822	420,045
	£000's	3,346	5,591	7,685	9,801	14,386	30,324
N. Ireland	MT	490	947	993	9,331	6,641	24,652
	£000's	16	35	45	532	465	1,783
U.S.S.R.	MT	4,180	—	—	1,301	1,681	—
	£000's	132	—	—	82	150	—
Poland	MT	469,662	668,488	601,327	705,702	482,520	184,413
	£000's	10,158	19,417	20,025	24,601	21,596	10,960
S. Africa and	MT	—	6,014	16,475	13,311	12,857	11,744
Namibia	£000's	—	188	439	521	677	1,071
U.S.A.	MT	10	—	1	220,037	408,583	585,310
	£000's	—	—	1	9,233	19,304	36,112
Australia	MT	—	—	—	20,031	2,078	—
	£000's	—	—	—	906	120	—
Other	MT	—	11	502	—	2,156	5,620
Countries	£000's	—	1	18	—	75	338
Total	MT	606,428	867,670	840,029	1,216,424	1,205,185	1,288,751
	£000's	14,566	26,416	28,675	46,655	58,378	84,939

Notes: 1. "Other Countries" includes countries for which data is confidential.

2. In general it should be noted that commodity detail from external trade statistics does not include:

(a) transactions (non-dutiable) of less than £100 each in 1985 and 1986;

(h) trade by firms operating from Shannon Free Airport;

and (c) postal packages not covered by customs entries.

Imports of Coal; Briquettes, Ovoids and Similar Solid Fuels manufactured from Coal.

Country		1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
France	MT	18,614	12,876	11,523	87,587	70,546
	£000's	1,566	1,404	1,094	7,450	4,899
Belgium and	MT	2,212	5,181	8,432	8,045	7,601
Luxembourg	£000's	201	465	923	1,040	520
Netherlands	MT	20,079	16,041	19,170	27,390	17,495
	£000's	2,287	1,720	1,600	2,034	1,099
W. Germany	MT	21,984	34,396	34,265	54,703	35,062
	£000's	2,071	3,847	4,163	6,271	4,868
G. Britain	MT	431,783	445,958	294,837	383,209	483,549
	£000's	31,557	29,092	17,011	28,416	30,891
N. Ireland	MT	14,066	7,125	3,690	8,808	17,431
	£000's	1,116	513	264	764	1,352
U.S.S.R.	MT	—	1,510	9,672	—	—
	£000's	—	93	604	—	—
Poland	MT	437,633	726,358	754,175	735,462	748,233
	£000's	27,607	44,224	51,375	55,293	47,339
S. Africa and	MT	7,394	22,158	23,962	69,762	48,153
Namibia	£000's	575	1,671	1,542	4,989	2,899
U.S.A.	MT	281,091	154,652	223,516	328,843	975,190
	£000's	18,742	9,322	15,467	24,713	52,672
Australia	MT	—	92	—	76,392	11,116
	£000's	—	10	—	3,300	372
Other	MT	2,935	1	10,682	130,335	208,016
Countries	£000's	176	—	438	6,771	7,921
Total	MT	1,237,791	1,426,348	1,393,924	1,910,536	2,622,392
	£000's	85,897	92,362	94,481	141,038	154,830

Notes: 1. "Other Countries" includes countries for which data is confidential.

2. In general it should be noted that commodity detail from external trade statistics does not include:

(a) transactions (non-dutiable) of less than £100 each in 1985 and 1986;

(h) trade by firms operating from Shannon Free Airport;

and (c) postal packages not covered by customs entries.