asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the number of oil exploration rigs that it is expected will operate off the Irish coast this summer; the total number of persons that it is expected will be employed on such rigs; and the total number of Irish persons who may expect employment as crew members on such rigs.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Oil Exploration Rigs.
18.
Arrangements for the coming drilling season have not yet been finally concluded by all the operators concerned but I expect that four mobile drilling rigs will be operating in the Irish offshore area this year.
The employment of crew members for the rigs is primarily a matter for the operators and their drilling contractors. It is not possible at this stage to give the figures which the Deputy has requested.
However, I am empowered under section 57 of the new exclusive licensing conditions to specify appropriate requirements in regard to recruitment procedures. Consultations have been taking place between my Department and the Department of Labour as to the implementation of section 57 so as to ensure that maximum opportunities for employment of Irish personnel on the drilling rigs are secured.
Could I ask the Parliamentary Secretary why these discussions did not take place prior to the arrival of the Neptune drilling rig off the coast? Could I ask him further why it was that the Department of Labour felt powerless on that occasion, when we had a total foreign workforce operating on that rig, despite the fact that a Cork agency had employed about 32 people and that it was only after extreme pressure from all of us that this crew was taken on——
I want to dissuade the Deputy from making a speech.
I may help to put the matter in context if I point out that, in the case of the three drilling rigs which were operating in Irish waters during the last drilling season, there were about 90 Irish persons, approximately half the total, on the Glomar North Sea drill ship and 24 on the Saipem drill ship. This indicates that there were a substantial number of Irish people last year. I think it is desirable, however, as the Deputy implied in his question, that these consultations with the Department of Labour should proceed with the maximum haste, and I will do everything I can to ensure that they do. But I would point out to him that a major achievement of the Minister has been the very negotiation of this procedure under section 57 of the terms which enable him to actually do something about ensuring that Irish people are employed on these rigs. I cannot say that this is a unique procedure in such a licence but it is one which is very valuable.
Could I ask the Parliamentary Secretary——
A final supplementary. It is running very late.
Such a licence is all-important at the exploration stage, but can he accept from me that there is grave concern among trade unionists, among the crews and the local Cork people generally that the Neptune, the first drilling rig of the season, arrived and intended to employ an entirely foreign crew? Can we now have a guarantee that there will not be a repetition of this from any of the other three rigs that he has referred to in this coming season?
I can tell the Deputy that in pursuit of the powers we have under section 57 the Minister would hope that a monitoring and follow-up procedure would be set in motion to examine each individual case to ensure, in conformity with the Minister's intentions, that the maximum number of Irish people are employed. It would not be possible for me to foresee every single case and give the blanket guarantee which the Deputy seems to be seeking from me.
Could I ask the Parliamentary Secretary further if he would give me an indication of what he means and what his Department and the Minister think should be the Irish content of such rigs either by number or percentages? Could I ask him further——
Order, Deputy Fitzgerald. I want to get on to other business.
Sorry. Could I ask him further if any discussions have taken place with the Department of Labour regarding the necessity of training crew members from our own Irish unemployed people so that they can man with a decent percentage number the four rigs coming in this year?
I do not think it will be possible for me to set out any ratio or percentage in relation to individual rates because, as the Deputy will appreciate, these rigs vary. There are certain types of person engaged with very specialised skills——
Let us train them.
——whom we do not have or who would be required to travel from one country to another, who would be drilling off the south coast of Ireland this year, off the west coast of Africa next year and off other coasts in some later years. It is possible that, quite apart from many other training difficulties, many Irish people would not wish to get into that category of employment. In some cases there are types of employment and substantial opportunities where Irish people could be taken in without entering into commitments of that sort. It depends on the individual type of rig how much of that type of employment could be given.
As far as training is concerned, the Deputy is aware that the Department of Labour have carried out a very detailed study on this matter which has been recently published.
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.
On a point of order, we have been 72 minutes on 18 questions, four minutes per question.
Is this a point of order?
It is a point of order and it concerns the Ceann Comhairle.
It is not a point of order. Has the Deputy a point of order to raise?
Yes. We have not sufficient time for questions and this side of the House have not an ample opportunity today to have replies to the questions they had asked or to have sufficient supplementary questions because of the long-winded replies.
This is not a point of order. The Chair did its utmost——
From the Ceann Comhairle's point of view.
Would the Deputy resume his seat?
They go on and on and we have 18 questions in four minutes.
The Deputy will resume his seat.
It is on the records of this House, and it is a disgrace.
If it is we know where the disgrace lies.
Could I ask the Ceann Comhairle if he will refer to the printed record of to-day's proceedings to confirm what Deputy MacSharry has said, particularly the inordinate length of the replies to supplementary questions and the fact that——
Order. This is not in order, Deputy O'Kennedy. The Chair appealed to Members today to expedite business.
They would have if he had addressed his appeals to this side of the House——
That is not so.
If the Ceann Comhairle will refer to the records he will find that——
Some four of the Deputy's questions took almost half an hour. Does he disagree with that?
The record will show.
A Deputy
Is it not correct to say if the Deputies on the Opposition got a very brief reply without the information they sought that they would then register a complaint saying that the Minister was not giving them sufficient information? Now when they are getting a full volume of information——
That is not the point.