The recent announcement by Enterprise Oil regarding the Corrib gas find is the most exciting and potentially challenging development that has happened in the history of County Mayo. There is great jubilation in the county about the find 50 miles of its north coast. As I am sure the Minister of State is well aware of the history of this matter, I will not to dwell on that aspect.
The position is that a deal has been done between Enterprise Oil and Bord Gáis for a transmission line from Pollatomish on the north Mayo coast to Craughwell in Galway linking up with the national grid of Bord Gáis. There is great unease in the county that only two towns, Claremorris and Castlebar, to which he referred in the Dáil on 24 October, will be serviced initially by a spur line from the main transmission line. Several small and large towns in Mayo are within a reasonable distance of the main transmission line – I refer specifically to towns such as Crossmolina, Killala, Foxford and Ballina, which are within a radius of seven or eight miles of the main transmission line.
The thinking in the area is that a mile of spur line would cost about £500,000, that is a ballpark figure. Servicing Ballina would involve an investment of approximately £4 million to £5 million. In the overall context of this development, which is expected to be in the region of £700 million or £800 million, maybe approaching £1 billion, an investment of another £7 million or £8 million is not very large. Given that Mayo is in the BMW region, some moneys should be provided for such connections. I eagerly await the Minister of State's reply to discover how the Government is exploring the possibility of connecting the towns adjacent to the main transmission line.
The current position could be compared to laying a water pipe in one's back garden to supply one's neighbour with water but not benefiting from that pipeline oneself. This is hard to accept. I am sure the Minister of State will agree it is extremely hard to sell the idea of connecting only two towns in Mayo to the main transmission line, especially when we have this great natural resource on our doorstep. It is the most exciting announcement in the history of County Mayo and it has great commercial potential.
Having spoken to the transmission manager of Bord Gáis, I am aware it is extremely interested in industry in the area. He said that Bord Gáis is not looking for ways not to connect a town to the main transmission line, but for ways to do so, although such a project must be commercially viable. That is what it is considering. The domestic market in those towns would possibly not be sufficient to justify a commercial connection but we want large industries to be taken into account in this overall project.
If the provision of such connections do not come within the commercial remit of Bord Gáis, I exhort the Minister of State to consider favourably allocating money for such connections, as there must be other options to ensure that a small amount of money, £4 million to £5 million, can be made available to cover the cost of the necessary spur lines, which would add enormously to the potential of those towns in Mayo.
