Ryan complicit in the great oil and gas giveaway

ENERGY Minister Eamon Ryan’s figures quoted in your article headlined ‘Corrib gas field worth €9.5bn’ (October 30) raise some serious questions.

According to Mr Ryan, Shell will have spent €7bn buying, €3bn developing and 1.7bn in tax for a field of gas that is worth €9.5bn. If these figures are correct, Shell will suffer a net loss of €2.1bn over the lifetime of the project.

As far as I know, Shell hasn’t applied for charitable status just yet. On the contrary, it has been posting record profits on the back of its exploits, and the people of Ireland are next in line.

More importantly, your article doesn’t state how Enterprise Oil became owners of the field in the first place. Ever since former energy minister Ray Burke abolished royalties and State participation, our Government has essentially been giving State property to the oil companies to do with as they please.

Bertie Ahern made matters worse by unnecessarily reducing the tax these companies would pay on their profits from 50% to 25%.

In Norway, fairer terms mean the oil industry pays for universal free healthcare and contributes to the national pension fund.

Instead of undoing some of the mistakes of the past by reintroducing the pre-Burke era oil and gas conditions in the recent budget, the Government has callously targeted the young and the elderly in a bid to make up for its own mismanagement.

Although not of his making, Eamon Ryan has become complicit in the great oil and gas giveaway by continuing to grant licences under almost the same conditions as Corrib.

The Greens should stop fooling themselves that they are doing a good job in government and stand up for real issues such as Corrib.

Paul Lynch

Middle Square

Macroom

Co Cork