It is vital that the worth and extent of any oil off the Irish coast be examined with a view to exploiting the resource to the benefit of the State and its citizens.
This is the view of Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív, who was speaking following confirmation this week that full and proper use of the State’s natural resources will be a core focus of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy & Natural Resources.
In April Sinn Féin tabled a Dáil motion in relation to natural resources, with Dep Ó Cuív tabling an amendment calling for the matter be referred to the Oireachtas committee “to facilitate a full examination of the real worth of any oil on our shores”.
“I called for a six-month examination of the facts and provisions to allow the committee to invite before it all the necessary experts and interested parties it wishes to question,” said Dep Ó Cuív.
The Connemara based TD said it must be established “once and for all the worth of these resources and the best way to exploit them in the interests if the people”.
He also said that such an analysis should “examine ways the State could get involved directly in certain facets of this work. Our focus at all times must be to get the full potential from our natural resources on behalf of the taxpayer”.
