Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 29 May 2003

Vol. 567 No. 7

Written Answers. - Gas Facility.

Martin Ferris

Question:

184 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on the conclusion of a person (details supplied), employed with An Bord Pleanála, that there is no evidence to suggest that either the State, the local community or the BMW region would have benefited had the proposed onshore gas facility at Bellanboy been allowed to proceed; and the way in which he proposes to redress that situation. [15035/03]

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (Mr. D. Ahern)

An Bord Pleanála, in assessing the appeal made to them for planning permission in connection with the building of a terminal for the Corrib gas field development, was entitled to formulate its own views as regards the benefits or otherwise of the proposed development. While the precise impact of the Corrib development could not have been quantified before development work commenced, and would only have become apparent with the passage of time, such a development would have had many quantitative and qualitative benefits which would have benefited the State, the local community and the BMW region in a number of ways.

Benefits to the State can be summarised as follows: increase Ireland's security of supply by providing a reliable, secure indigenous source of gas; provide significant tax revenues; improve Ireland's industrial competitiveness; encourage continued investment in oil and gas exploration in Ireland and help Ireland achieve its Kyoto objectives.

In respect of the provision of goods and services the main contracts for the sub-sea, the pipelines and the terminal went to specialist international companies. There are no suppliers of these services in Ireland and only a few worldwide. However, a number of Irish companies were contracted as subcontractors. Pierse Construction and M. C. O'Sullivan Engineering Services, were to be involved with onshore civil works. Under the terminal contract, SIAC is responsible for site preparation, civil and structural works while Irish Industrial Fabricators, IIF, was to carry out all mechanical, electrical and instrumentation fabrication and construction. Killybegs would have continued to be the main harbour used by the developers. It is my view that the Irish goods and services sector had, to date, won a substantial proportion of the Corrib gas field development work for which it was qualified to compete.

The benefits of the Corrib development to the local community, as claimed by Enterprise Energy Ireland Ltd , EEIL, comprise a mix of quantitative and qualitative factors. The number of direct construction jobs starts at 100, rises to 500 before falling back to 200 over the timeframe of the project. While EEIL did not provide any estimate of numbers, it was considered that there would be a substantial number of indirect jobs in such areas as catering, accommodation, transport, port services, plant hire and other miscellaneous services. The number of jobs to operate the terminal is put at around 60 over a three shift cycle. Again, there would have been a number of indirect jobs in the supply of services. EEIL has stated on numerous public occasions its policy to recruit and train locals to meet its terminal employment requirements. Given the number of Irish subcontractors engaged in the project, my Department was of the view that these companies would recruit some of their labour requirements locally. The continuous employment of some 80 to 100 persons in Ireland by EEIL is also dependent on the development of this gas field. In addition, the local community would have benefited from a €1.25 million community fund to be set up by the Corrib Group for local community projects.

As regards the benefits to the BMW region, numerous reports over the years have elaborated on the regional disparities in economic performance in Ireland. Mayo and the north-west perform poorly on most criteria in these comparisons. The availability of indigenous competitively priced gas should facilitate an improvement in the region's energy infrastructure and supply position and thereby help stimulate further investment in Mayo and the north-west.

The development of the gas field would contribute to the potential economic and social regeneration of Mayo and the north-west region and to the sustainable development of the area, in that it would have: acted as a catalyst for the extension of the natural gas network to the west; facilitated the improvement of the region's infrastructure, particularly its electricity supply and distribution network – thereby removing a barrier to inward investment; significantly increased local employment, especially in the construction phase and the long-term by way of terminal jobs.

As of now, I understand that EEIL is evaluating its options in respect of the development of the Corrib gas field and I await the company's deliberations in this regard.