The possibility of selling water to the Gulf states was under consideration in 1984, according to archived documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The Irish National Petroleum Corporation, then a State-owned oil company, presented proposals to the government to sell drinking water to the Gulf states. It was to be transported from Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay, Co Cork, using oil tankers.
A background note prepared in March 1984 for then minister for foreign affairs Peter Barry said contact had been made “at a high level in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States”.
The previous year, then minister for industry and energy John Bruton had discussed the subject while visiting Riyadh. The plan was to supply fresh water as a “back load” for tankers returning from oil deliveries in western Europe.
The note pointed out there had been many international proposals to supply water to “arid zone oil-producing states” including by tanker, pipeline from major rivers and “through towing icebergs”.
According to a letter written in March by Mr Barry to an unnamed individual in Glanmire, Co Cork, who had inquired about selling water to the Middle East, the matter was followed up with authorities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. These states had begun a study into importing water by tanker after their water desalination plants came under threat from oil pollution. But the study was not completed because the oil slick did not affect the plants as badly as expected.
“The general position appears to be that the Gulf States prefer to rely on their own sources of water . . . rather than becoming dependent on water supplies imported from abroad,” Mr Barry said.
He also noted that Saudi Arabia was negotiating with Japan about importing water and “unlike Ireland, which has no term contracts for crude oil with any of the Gulf oil exporting countries, Japan buys large quantities of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates”.
The minister attached the names and addresses of the ministries responsible for water in the oil-producing Gulf and north African states for the correspondent, whose name was redacted.
