Vol. 413 No. 2
14 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Energy the reason he is considering State mining leases; and if he will outline the way in which these leases would help resolve the mining environmental conflict and bring some clarity and direction into the area.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to my statement of 27 April last that I was considering changes to the administrative procedures relating to the grant of State mining leases and prospecting licences. This consideration is at an advanced stage and I hope to be in a position to make an announcement in the near future. The purpose of the changes, which are entirely of a procedural nature, will be to ease the burden on the minerals industry and to speed up the application and renewal system. There are no changes in the existing environmental requirements relating to mining leases. I consider these requirements to be both clear and comprehensive.
As there is such high unemployment we need to give greater urgency to the development of our mining potential. While accepting that environment constraints must be fully implemented and supported, I should like to ask the Minister if he has any plans for initiatives in this area which might resolve the conflict between the desirability of developing our resources and meeting reasonable environmental concerns. Will he accept that there is a particular responsibility on him to do something about this conflict for the good of the country as a whole? Will he allow it to continue developing at a snails pace?
I am not too sure to what the Deputy is referring. So far as the environment is concerned, one of the first statements I made was that I would require an environmental impact assessment to be carried out on the project before I would issue any mining leases. I have adhered to that since becoming Minister. The Department issue prospecting licences and it is up to the successful prospector, if he makes what he considers to be a commercially viable find, to come forward with a proposal to develop a mine. The only projects I have had to deal with so far have been very small ones. One can read in the media about certain finds but until the promoters of those "finds" come forward to my Department with an application for a mining lease I am not involved. When I am asked to deal with a mining licence application, I am very careful to consider the environmental aspect involved.
Accepting entirely that we are trying to marry two competing issues, each very valuable, would the Minister accept that a Green Paper might be of assistance in bringing these issues to the fore and having them resolved so that everybody would understand the ground rules and there would be some clarity and direction in that area?
I am not clear as to what the Deputy is getting at. If she would be specific I would deal with the matter. I have made it quite clear that in regard to environmental concerns which may be legitimately held by any citizen arising from possible proposals for a mining development, the assurances are there that no mining licence will be granted without an independent body, with whom I would have to be satisfied, confirming that the project complies with all modern-day environmental requirements of the highest possible standards. The applicant would then have to obtain planning permission which would also involve an assessment of an environmental impact statement. Therefore there is a double protection for the community against any major mistakes being made in the mining development arena. I am fully supportive of the need to develop our mineral resources to the advantage of the economy and of our people, but I will support such developments only where they comply with the strictest possible environmental requirements. The mining industry have clearly indicated that they will willingly comply with whatever environmental requirements are laid down by the State or local authority. Therefore, every assurance has been given to the people and to the industry that great care will be taken.
Would the Minister not agree that the whole procedure in the way we deal with mining is incorrect in that the first stage involves the obtaining of a prospecting licence? These licences are given without having to go through an objection procedure? When a mining company gets a prospecting licence considerable environmental damage can be done to an area even if no mining takes place, as happened in Croagh Patrick. Surely the Minister would agree that there should be an input from the public at the prospecting stage.
I am amazed at the Deputy's suggestion that prospecting activity damages the environment. He quoted the only known case in the Department of Energy where any serious complaints were legitimately made after some interference with the local environment which was not capable of being properly restored — the case of the Croagh Patrick development. Prospecting involves boring a very small hole in the ground to see what is beneath the surface. It cannot be deemed to be an activity which takes from the environmental or scenic amenity or from the value of an area from an environmental point of view. It is wrong of Deputies to support the notion that that is so. There is no history in the files of the Department of Energy to confirm any great public concern about the activities of prospecting companies other than the one mentioned. The State has very clearly excluded certain areas from ever prospecting and consequently from mining by stating that no licences for prospecting will issue in the national parks and the Croagh Patrick area. Every reasonable step required has been taken in this area. It is wrong to suggest that prospecting is an activity about which one should be greatly concerned.
