Sir, – The workings of the Irish Government are a complete mystery when it comes to research carried out into the possible exploitation of our hydrocarbons.
I was involved from 2000 to 2004 in trying to convince our political establishment to exploit the hydrocarbons by setting up our own exploration company, to organise tax-relief for wealthy people to invest, while the State would hold the majority share. I pointed out the huge danger we were walking into, if the exploitation of our young people with ever- increasing mortgages was allowed continue.
This culminated in me throwing my hands up in the air in October 2005, when the then Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey during a Dáil session said “Do people think the State should gamble as much as €20 million of taxpayers’ money per well at odds of over 30:1?”
We could sink over 4,000 wells with what’s in Nama and countless thousands more with what’s involved in worthless asset-backed security deals. All we needed was 30 at the most, in accordance with the Minister’s own betting instincts!
I read Pat Rabbitte’s reply (Opinion, August 18th) to Fintan O’Toole’s article (Opinion, August 16th). Both of them would be familiar with my work in this area. It amazes me that the Minister is still trotting out the hoary old chestnut that the strike rate in Norwegian waters is much better than Ireland’s. The Minister is not comparing like with like. Our strike rate compares very favourably with the British part of the Atlantic Margin as distinct from the North Sea.
The following quote comes from the exploration page of the St Kilda’s website “More than 100 exploration wells had been drilled in the UK part of the Atlantic margin and some geologists had written off the exploration potential before BP discovered the Foinaven and Schiehallion oilfields to the west of Shetland in 1992/1993.”
All I could do after reading the Minister’s article was to have a good yawn! Now that the economy is imploding, is there any chance that the politicians will take their finger out? – Yours, etc,