Lenihan 'in the dark' about effects of oil and gas exploration

News Release - Issued by Dublin Shell to Sea - Monday, June 14th, 2010
 
LENIHAN ‘IN THE DARK’ ABOUT EFFECTS OF OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION
 
Dublin Shell to Sea has accused Minister of State Conor Lenihan of being “totally in the dark” about the effects of oil and gas exploration in Ireland following remarks he made today [Mon 14 June] while on the Kinsale gas platform.
 
Spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins said: “When Mr Lenihan says that finding oil and gas in Irish waters is ‘a good news story for Ireland, for the Exchequer,’ he seems to be confusing ‘good news’ with ‘extremely bad news’.”
 
“All gas and oil finds currently under exploration in Irish waters will represent a net loss to the Irish exchequer of many hundreds of billions of euro, thanks to notorious changes to the law made by Mr Lenihan’s predecessors, Ray Burke and Bertie Ahern, in the 1980s and 1990s.”
 

“Aside from some short-term construction jobs, these finds are good news only for the shareholders of the multinational oil companies who extract our gas and then sell it back to Irish consumers at full market rates.”
 
Mr Lenihan’s controversial remarks come on the back of further bad news today from Shell. The company is to drill further exploration wells north of the Corrib field, which could result in a significant extension of the Corrib gas infrastructure.
 “This is the start of something Shell to Sea campaigners have been predicting for a decade, namely the piping of gas from other gas fields at ultra high pressure to Bellanaboy in Mayo and the expansion of that site into a huge complex of refineries, meaning increased health and safety risks for the local community,” Caoimhe Kerins said.
 
ENDS
 
FOR VERIFICATION, COMMENT OR MORE INFO, CONTACT:
 
* Caoimhe Kerins
* Gary Ronaghan