State ‘hypocrisy’ on mining rule change

The Government was accused of hypocrisy in not supporting rules to have oil, gas and mining companies in Ireland and other EU countries report what money they pay to governments for mining concessions.

Richard Bruton, the enterprise minister, suggested the proposed legislation, designed to increase transparency and reduce corruption, especially in developing countries, should not apply to companies operating in the EU.

Mr Bruton, in Brussels to discuss the issue with other EU states, said he questioned whether there was a need to have the same level of transparency within the EU as for countries where there was a system of corrupt payments. People in Ireland could find out such facts through the freedom of information act, he said.