Vol. 389 No. 5
asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the matters discussed with political leaders and commercial interests during his recent visit to Japan; the developments, if any, which he expects will follow on from his visit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
2.
asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the matters discussed during his meeting with representatives of the Government of the Soviet Union on his way to and from Japan; the progress which was made on the commercial ventures discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
3.
asked the Taoiseach if, during his recent visit to Japan, he briefed the Japanese Prime Minister on the situation in Northern Ireland.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 2 and 3 together. I would refer the Deputies to the statement I made in the House yesterday on my meetings in Moscow and on my official working visit to Japan.
Arising from the statement the Taoiseach made in the House yesterday, could he elaborate a little on the proposal he put to the Soviet delegation regarding a partnership in our oil refining and oil storage facilities?
There is no great elaboration I can give. It is very simple a proposal. It seemed to me to be a proposal which would arise directly from our other proposal for some kind of barter arrangement in regard to the supply of Soviet oil. As Deputies know, the Government have been considering for some time the question of taking a producer country partner into Whitegate and/or Whiddy with us. This would make a lot of sense. It is the way oil business is going generally around the world — the producer countries are seeking to become more involved in the final stages of their product. I would like also to deal with a few remarks which were made during the course of the debate yesterday. It was suggested that the Government were dealing with a multiplicity of possible partners in regard to these installations. That is not so. I do not think there is any harm in letting it be known internationally that we would welcome a good sound working partnership by a producer country but at the moment, apart from inquiries of one kind or another, there are actually no specific substantive negotiations in train with any particular possible partner. I just want to make that clear. We are totally free to make an arrangement with the Soviets if we wish to do so without any complications with regard to any other possibilities.
The remarks the Taoiseach has referred to were not made by myself, they were made by other Deputies. Can the Taoiseach indicate, in view of the strategic importance of the product we are talking about — oil and the oil supply to the Irish economy — and the importance of our having control over whatever refining capacity we already have, whether in any partnership deal, either with the Soviets or other groups who may be making proposals to the Irish Government, we would intend to retain control of our refining capacity and of the storage facilities we have at Whiddy?
Yes, within limits, I would be glad to agree to some such principle but the Deputy will understand that a partnership would be a partnership and there would have to be mutual benefits on both sides. The fact that the installations are on our territory would, to a considerable extent, give us the sort of security perhaps that we would need but these are matters which would have to be discussed.
The whole purpose of the exercise would be to seek to give us some sort of stability in the supply situation in regard to oil. As the Deputy knows, the international world market for oil can be volatile and quite unpredictable. All that is needed is an accident in some part of the world to cause an upset in the market and in the price structures. There would be a lot to be said for some sort of reasonably permanent arrangement for the supply of at least a substantial proportion of our needs on a permanent stable basis. That is what we would have in mind. As I mentioned in my statement yesterday, we are establishing a high level technical committee between ourselves and the Soviets to look at the compatibility of Soviet oil supplies with our refining capacity at Whitegate. In that regard I would like to say that some of the remarks made yesterday about the nature and quality of Soviet oil were very wide of the mark. I think, Deputies, it would be as well to leave these complicated technical matters to the expert committee we are setting up to look fully into the matter.
Having been the origin of some of the remarks to which the Taoiseach refers——
I was not thinking of that at all.
That does not surprise me. It would help you to think a little more about it on your various perambulations around the world so that you might not put your foot in it quite so often.
With regard to what the Taoiseach has just said concerning the partnership arrangement with Soviet oil suppliers and the fact that he says that it is the only discussion going on, does that mean that discussions with a potential Nigerian partner have now been terminated, or does it mean that there never were any substantive discussions of any kind with a potential Nigerian partner? Also, since the Soviets seem to be regarded as a potential partner, in the event of a partnership of that kind coming about, could the Taoiseach give us a guarantee that Irish workers in a refinery with that kind of partnership would not have to submit themselves to the kind of Soviet economic democracy that Deputy De Rossa was trying to sell to the House a couple of weeks ago?
There has been an outburst of perestroika in The Workers' Party, too.
So it seems.
That is a question that perhaps should be addressed more specifically to the Minister concerned. My knowledge of the matter is that there are no other negotiations of substance in train at the moment. I could arrange to have the Deputy given information by the Minister for Energy about any other negotiations or inquiries that are made. I think that it is common knowledge that there were discussions with the Nigerians. My understanding of the matter at the moment is that these are no longer extant.
Terminated?
Comme vous voulez whichever you prefer.
That is not what the Minister for Energy is saying.
At present at any rate they are not at the stage of practical discussion. The way is quite clear for us to enter into substantive discussions with the Soviets, or indeed with any other suitable oil producing possible partners.
This will have to be a final question. I cannot remain unduly long over any of these questions. There are many other questions to be got through.
During the Taoiseach's visit it was reported that a number of companies had indicated their intention to invest here to a value varying between £20 million and £30 million. The Taoiseach's statement yesterday did not refer to this report. Could he either confirm that that is the case or deny that that report was factual? If so, could he indicate how soon investment would come?
The position is that the report is correct. There are five specific corporations in the course of active negotiations with the IDA. These negotiations are at the point where announcements can be made. I set my face against coming back and making specific announcements about specific projects. I did give a general omnibus figure but did not want to go any further than that. All the different projects, practically, have different constraints with regard to them. In some cases the final decision has to go to some particular high level board at home in Japan. In other cases some negotiations have still to be completed here with regard either to our own situation or perhaps with regard to Community obligations. I think it is better in these cases that particular projects should be announced by the corporation themselves in due course, or by the IDA, or in some other way. I do not subscribe to the concept of my coming back and making grandiose announcements just for the sake of making them.
The Taoiseach got his fingers burned in that regard last year. He is learning.
Now that the Deputy has asked me, I did come back with the firm decision made to me by the president of the second largest bank in the world, Sumitomo, that they are definitely going to participate in the financial services sector.
Hear, hear.
That was announced before the Taoiseach went away.
It was not announced before that. The president gave me that information personally across the table.
That was part of the publicity package before the Taoiseach went away.
That was the decision. I think that this is childish. That is what I am trying to say to Deputy De Rossa. There are machinery and systems for dealing with these matters. My job is to try to give all projects a move forward——
The Taoiseach should do that in view of 1987.
——in particular, to help to create a generally satisfactory political climate in which more progress can be made, rather than coming back and pulling the odd rabbit out of the hat and announcing it at Dublin Airport.
It was not a rabbit that the Taoiseach pulled out of the hat. It was only a few Deputies.
