Corrib protesters right

IN his letter concerning the Corrib Gas protesters Michael O’Connell (April 19) fails to realise that the current fiscal terms provide for a 25% fuel tax rate, with zero royalties and zero state ownership.

In international terms this tax rate is extremely low and will in any event be written off against all development costs for the oil companies, extending back 25 years.

The protesters have been the ones who have held up the project when it should have been the Government’s function to ensure the maximum return from our natural resources and that the safe processing of raw, odourless gas is effected at sea, which is the international norm for the industry.