asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if any representative of his Department or of the National Prices Commission participated in the discussions held in the Department of Transport and Power recently with oil company representatives regarding increased storage.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Discussions with Oil Companies.
41.
An officer of the Prices Division of my Department was in attendance for part of a meeting which took place in the Department of Transport and Power on 20th June, 1974 between representatives of that Department and the oil companies, in order to explain the criteria and procedures applicable to the making of price applications.
Is the Minister aware that when I put a supplementary question to the Minister for Transport and Power two weeks ago he said no, there was not any person from his Department present at these discussions? Would the Minister agree that it is of greatest importance that some officer from his Department, particularly of the Prices Commission, should be present at all these discussions because of the fact that there is £35 million involved and the question arises as to who will foot this bill. The reason for asking the question was——
The Deputy is making a speech.
——the importance of the issue.
There are two things here. I can deal with the substance of the Deputy's question first. The matter has not yet reached the stage where my Department and particularly the NPC will be involved in the discussions. When it does reach that stage I can assure him we shall take a very active interest in it.
I think what led to the reply of the Minister for Transport and Power was that he was asked if anyone from my Department or from the National Prices Commission was involved in discussions. They will be, but the position was that a junior officer attended part of the meeting in an information sense to provide criteria if they were required for NPC decisions. It will come to the NPC at a later stage, but in the sense of my Department actually participating in the discussions, the reply of the Minister for Transport and Power was an accurate one. It was a young man, a junior officer, who did not have any responsibility, attending for some of the meeting just for the purpose of giving information.