Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 November 2012
205. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the agency that would be responsible for the management and clean-up of any oil spill in Dublin Bay that resulted from drilling by a company (details supplied) or any other such entity; the persons who would pay for this and the way it would be done. [52018/12]
View answerThe oil exploration site off Dalkey is the subject of an exploration licence awarded by the Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources. The exploration company is required to comply with all the Rules and Procedures of the Petroleum Affairs Division of that Department prior to commencing operations at the site. These provide for the recovery of clean-up costs by individual or Unified Claims.
Part of the conditions on the development of the site is the requirement to have in place an Oil Spill Contingency Plan approved by the Irish Coast Guard which would include measures put in place by the Company to avert or deal with an Oil Spill incident. The Irish Coast Guard is reponsible for the "At Sea Response" while the Local Authority / Port Authority have responsibility for the clean up in their areas, the Coast Guard also have an oversight role in this regard.
The requirements of the Contingency Plan are outlined in Section 2.2 of the Sea Pollution Amendment Act 1999 and addresses issues such as the responsibilities of personnel reporting arrangements including on site operational control, time criteria for cessation of production and shut off of pressure, risk assessment and prediction of various pollution causes, consequences and areas under threat, taking into account the maximum volume of pollutant that could be released and the composition and properties of the pollutant, response to worst case and most credible likely emergency, clean-up facilities, for first strike response and back up equipment, disposal of recovered oil, training of personnel, surveillance of and reporting on oil slick extent and movement, contact lists and site data.
