Deputy Seán Dunne has given notice that he intends to raise the subject matter of Question No. 21 on today's Order Paper.
Adjournment Debate: - Oil Pollution.
The flames of the napalm that hit the Torrey Canyon have lighted up this whole question of the threat of oil pollution to the beaches in every part of Ireland. It is quite obviously a matter of major importance to us in Ireland. Apart from the proposal which has taken shape at Whiddy Island, the danger of pollution of beaches, particularly in the South and West, which would seem to be the most vulnerable areas, is agitating the minds of all people who think not only of tourism but of the existing amenities of the country generally. There is no need for me to extend myself in describing the undesirability of oil pollution, although it seems to be a matter of levity to the Deputy from Galway.
It is a little bit of stunting for yourself. It is an act of God.
If the Deputy is not himself concerned with the danger of oil pollution to the country, generally, it is a matter of importance to the tourist industry in Galway.
We are able to look after ourselves in Galway.
I would counsel the Deputy to keep a civil tongue in his head; otherwise, I will have to seek the protection of the Chair.
That will be the day.
The question I want to raise is one of a number which the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister had the responsibility of answering today. It is a matter of some regret to me that the Minister is not present to deal with the matter personally but I understand that he cannot be present. That does not mean that I am taking from the ability of the Parliamentary Secretary to deal with the matter but I wish to avail of the opportunity to point out certain urgent steps which I think should be taken so as to ensure, in so far as it is humanly possible to do so, that oil pollution will be safeguarded against.
We have seen in the case of the Torrey Canyon, which many will look upon as an isolated disaster, what grave consequences may flow from incidents of that kind. Quite apart from the Torrey Canyon, which is the incident which led up to the whole question, there is the fact that in whatever waters tankers may ply, there have been for years complaints about the irresponsible discharge of oil into the sea and the pollution of beaches. This has been the case in Britain and the papers have been full recently of many examples of why and how this has happened. They are concerned about the Clyde area and I understand that when the proposal to facilitate the Gulf Oil Company at Whiddy was first brought forward, Cork County Council did, in so far as this was feasible, write into the conditions governing the permission to go ahead with the project whatever clauses it was open to them to write in, to ensure that this matter of pollution would be dealt with as it would arise.
It is a fact that so far as is known, there is no international Convention in existence at the moment which effectively deals with this matter. If there is one, it has not been made known to us and we do not know if we are associated with it in any way. I speak of an effective international Convention. There may be some loose expressions of what is undesirable but there does not seem to be in existence machinery to deal with the problem. I want now to put some suggestions to the Parliamentary Secretary for his consideration, particularly in relation to the project at Whiddy which is the most obvious one to present us with problems for the future.
I understand that the Gulf Oil Company, one of the world's largest companies, have ordered six tankers of 300,000 tons each and it is proposed that these will carry crude oil from the Middle East and Africa to the Whiddy Island terminal. From there it will be shipped in smaller tankers of 85,000 and 100,000 tons to the company's European refineries. This means the transhipment of oil in immense quantities. While it has been said, and probably with understandable justification by the representatives of West Cork, that the operation of this project will be of benefit to the people there, it can also be said that this country has conferred a benefit on the Gulf Oil Company in providing them with this terminal. I do not suppose there are many places in Western Europe which can compare with Whiddy Island in the provision of berthing for large tankers. It would seem to me that the Government are in a position to make certain preconditions with Gulf Oil before the project goes into full-scale operation.
I am also aware of the existence of a body of opinion in Cork and throughout the country which objects on purely artistic grounds to the existence of an oil terminal of any kind. We will always have the conflict between the need for employment in areas which have been regarded as depressed and the preservationists who feel that the beauty of the southern and western coasts should be preserved regardless of the cost. That is not a problem with which I wish to concern myself here now because it is outside the scope of this question; it is too big a question and one which I would prefer to leave to the Deputies who represent those areas. Sentimentally, I would naturally incline towards the preservationists. However, Connolly said that Ireland, apart from its people, meant nothing to him, and I think that is the realistic view we all have to take. The first essential is that people get employment in their own country, and anything which we can do in that direction without despoiling the countryside we must encourage.
Therefore, looking at what is a fait accompli, now that Gulf Oil is here, let us see what the Government can do to ensure that pollution will not become a problem for us. There is no guarantee, of course, no matter what they do, that there will not be a recurrence of the disaster that overtook the Torrey Canyon. We sincerely hope and pray that it never will happen, but nobody can foretell what the future holds. However, it has struck me, and it has been suggested to me by seafaring men with long experience of the sea, by men who have been masters of ships on the Seven Seas, who have had experience of tankers and who know what they are talking about, that one very obvious step which the Government might take with a view to getting some degree of control in the future is to insist upon Gulf Oil putting at least some of these tankers on the Irish register.
What does that mean? I understand it means that a considerable income in the form of tax would accrue to this country. At the moment it appears that most of these tankers sail under the Liberian flag and, indeed, because of that, it has been suggested that the kind of crew which they get — most tanker crews, I understand, are made up of sailors who sign on in various parts of the world — is different from the crews we find on nationally established lines; they have perhaps a dozen different nationalities in these tanker crews. If some of these tankers were on the Irish register, it would mean, No. 1, that they would have an Irish crew. The question of employment comes in here, and it is a pretty big question. No. 2, I suggest to the Government it would give some degree of control over the activities of the management of the tankers. If there is no control, if the Government have no say in the management of these colossal ships, there is nothing to prevent the discharge of oil waste outside Bantry Bay. There is nothing to prevent pollution on a considerable scale. That is the very simple answer to at least part of the problem. It is not an unreasonable proposition, and it is one with which, perhaps, Gulf Oil might fall in readily. I do not know.
I am also informed that in the berthing of these ships, it is proposed to employ British tugs. It would be a big job berthing these ships, as can be easily imagined. Is there anything to prevent the Department of Transport and Power taking the initiative in the creation of a company or some organisation for the provision of Irish tugs to berth these ships? These are things I suggest the Department should consider because they do bear upon the problem of pollution. I am not suggesting for one moment that this problem is easily solved. If it were easily solved the vast resources of Britain and other countries would have been employed to solve it long before now, but we should do anything which lies reasonably in our power to tackle it and that is one possible way of getting our foot in the door by getting some say in the management and control of these big boats.
There is another consideration of national advantage which has nothing to do with pollution but is something to bear in mind, that is, that Irishregistered ships at a time of national emergency are subject to Irish law and, indeed, become Irish property.
It has been suggested in Britain that some form of international insurance scheme should be set up to pay for pollution, but the question of paying for pollution is, I would think, a very vexatious one and one which requires long and careful consideration. How is the damage which pollution may cause to be calculated? If say, a great stretch of our southern or western coastline were polluted and had the effect of preventing many thousands of holidaymakers from going there in a season or maybe in two seasons, how is one to estimate the loss of income to the many hoteliers and the many hundreds of people who make their living by tourism in those areas? It is a very difficult question. We should concentrate, therefore, as we have the opportunity now before the problem becomes acute, upon prevention. I was glad to hear that we have sent some people to England to see what their experience there has taught them. At least it shows that we are, to that extent, aware of our responsibilities in the matter. I noted with interest that the manager of Cork County Council said that before granting permission for this project on Whiddy, he himself went to Milford Haven, which is one of the biggest oil ports in the world, and found there that, on average, 15 seepages occurred every month. If that is so in Milford Haven, it is only commonsense to expect that we shall have the problem here.
The Deputy's time is up.
Time has run out on me very quickly. It is a matter of great regret that I have no more time to go into this vital question, but if I have succeeded in the few remarks I have made, in starting some thoughts in the mind of the Parliamentary Secretary as to what steps we might take, the few minutes which have been available to me have not been wasted.
The Deputy, when stating that he regretted it was necessary for him to raise this subject on the Adjournment this evening in the absence of the Minister, was not quite genuine. There is no reason why, knowing that the Minister was absent, he could not have left the raising of this question to a later stage when the Minister might be present.
There is no time to be lost.
No, but the Minister may be here tomorrow. Up to the time of the disaster involving the Torrey Canyon, there was no great worry about the kind of pollution that might arise from a disaster of this kind. Over a long period, we have had discussions with regard to the normal run of pollution. In connection with the Bantry Bay and Whiddy Island development, oil pollution is something which has been engaging the attention of the Department for quite a considerable time, so much so that the Department endeavoured to get, and succeeded in getting, the most far-reaching guarantees from the Gulf Oil Company with regard to preventive measures to avoid pollution.
While I sympathise with those involved in the recent disaster, those engaged in the tourist industry and in the fishing industry in that area, from the point of the Whiddy Island development, this may serve as a blessing in disguise because it has brought attention to the fact that regulations laid down with regard to the transport of oil do not cover every type of eventuality. There is no regulation controlling oil seepage and water pollution as a result of the kind of disaster which occurred off Land's End. Our experience of this recent disaster has made us fully aware of the positive problems involved for this country in relation to the transportation of oil. While that disaster occurred because a tanker was grounded on the rocks, there is no guarantee, though we have to accept that it is unlikely, that something might not happen to a tanker out in the Atlantic which might result in oil being discharged. Even though the sea lanes are so far apart, one could perhaps, visualise a collision at sea in which a tanker might be damaged. Because of the tidal flow, the coast around the entire island could be affected by pollution. The only thing that can be done is to try to make the best possible arrangements we can through this international get-together to protect our shores. I am satisfied that the lesson learned from the recent disaster will be invaluable to our representatives at the next IMCO meeting.
Deputy Dillon mentioned Bantry Bay today; he hates to think what it will be like in ten years' time. That reminded me of his reference some years ago to the probability of rabbits overrunning Shannon. I hope the prophecy where Bantry Bay is concerned will turn out to be just as effective.
Or the Ballina biscuit factory.
I cannot see how this particular question of Deputy Dunne's covers the matter of our prevailing upon the Gulf Oil Company to put some of their tankers on the Irish register because there is no relationship between possible pollution and whose tankers deliver the oil. Deputy Dunne endeavoured to make a connection by suggesting that the crew of the Gulf Oil tankers are not as good, or as careful, or as well selected as they might be. This is a type of allegation upon which I do not feel free to comment. However, the lesson learned from the Torrey Canyon can prove very useful from our point of view. I was hoping, when Deputy Dunne decided to raise this matter on the Adjournment, that he would come up with something more helpful than a suggestion of changing the flags on the tankers.
It is a question of income to the country as well.
I agree. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, some short time ago I had a certain responsibility with regard to the development of the West and, quite honestly, I was very pleased when this decision with regard to Bantry was taken. This project will make this port one of the world's major terminal oil ports and that must confer great benefit on Bantry and West Cork. The responsibility of the Department of Transport and Power in this particular connection is to take all steps possible to further this project. That it has done, is doing, and will continue to do. It will also take all possible steps to ensure that the effect of oil pollution in the area will be kept to a minimum.
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 6th April, 1967.