The Coalition Government has done well to provide funding for the first comprehensive seabed survey of Ireland's offshore territory. The work will be managed over a seven-year period by the Geological Survey of Ireland in association with the Marine Institute. The programme will map the sea floor using a variety of techniques and identify mineral deposits, potential oil and gas resources, deposits of sand and gravel, fish stocks and spawning grounds and opportunities for wind and water energy. It is ambitious in scope and it reflects, to some extent, the unexplored potential of our vast offshore resources.
The State owns one of the largest offshore territories in Europe, amounting to 10 times the land area, and we are shamefully ignorant of what is out there. Ireland is the only EU state without a territory-wide seabed mapping programme. The received wisdom of the early 1950s was that Ireland had no mineral deposits of any consequence. And then a series of lead and zinc finds resulted from work initiated by the Geological Survey. That pattern is likely to be repeated and amplified where our offshore resources are concerned.
It is a refreshing change for an Irish government to respond with hard-headed, commercial acumen to what was largely an academic proposal. But there has been a slow-growing realisation, at official and political level, that great natural wealth, and the potential to generate new forms of it, lies offshore. Rapid economic growth and advances in research and development have generated the confidence to undertake the necessary long-term exploration and to offer participation in public-private ventures.
The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, and the Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, announced details of the programme yesterday. The change in Government thinking about offshore resources was reflected in Dr Woods's comments that we just did not know enough about our offshore riches and opportunities. Mapping the whole area was a vital first step in exploiting its economic potential. As our greatest natural resource it was a top priority for the Government, he said. The time had come to think big.
Mr Jacob looked at the broader picture that would be generated: how plate tectonics controlled the distribution of continents and oceans; the discovery of hot water vents, with associated metal deposits and exotic life forms; and the role oceans played in controlling and changing climate. But petroleum and base-metal exploitation also figured, along with frozen deposits of methane gas.
The range of benefits to be extracted from this unquantified national resource is immense and offers great potential for job creation along the west coast. Our abysmal failure to develop a fishing industry commensurate with our capacity should act as a spur towards future innovation and development.