asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, before the execution of any formal agreement granting an exclusive licence for oil exploration, development or production, he will set up a commission or other expert body to advise him and the country of the implications of such an exclusive licence, and of the most appropriate steps by which the fullest possible survey and exploration of possible oil resources would be carried out, and particularly in what way they should be operated so as to ensure that the national interest would get the maximum benefit from any subsequent production of oil.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Oil Exploration: Commission of Inquiry.
13.
The reply to the Deputy's question is in the negative.
It may be useful to take this opportunity to warn against unjustifiable optimism concerning the possibility of discovering oil and natural gas deposits in Ireland. We have fairly extensive rock formations of a kind associated elsewhere with oil deposits but the consensus of informed opinion is that the expectation of discovering oil here in quantities which can be exploited economically, must be regarded as slight. Up to the present there has been no attempt to explore for oil in this country by geophysical methods or by drilling. While, therefore, it would be unwise to exaggerate the prospects of discovering oil, nevertheless, new information is constantly becoming available concerning the geological conditions in which oil can be found, and it is to be hoped that the comprehensive programme of exploration which will be undertaken under the terms of the oil agreement will lead to a definite conclusion one way or another.
Do the documents in question deal not merely with exploration but also with production at a later stage?
Yes.
Is the production solely limited to the same concern?
The Deputy had better read the agreement.
It does not appear as if the Minister knows very much about his own agreement.
None of these questions is capable of a simple answer.
Apparently the Minister is already sheltering under the mantle of him whom he hopes to follow and whose policy he hopes to adopt at an early date, namely, never to answer any question simply.