Why does Eamon Ryan keep telling the same lies about Corrib Gas?

national | environment | opinion/analysis Friday November 07, 2008 15:39 by Oedipus at the National Theatre

Minister knows he is misleading the public

Before the lawyers get busy, let's have a look at what he said yesterday when he announced that the Fioanna Fáil/Geen Party government was setting up a talking shop to give the impression that they care what people think about the project (which will go ahead, it seems, regardless of whatever the "Corrib Gas Community Forum" says or concludes).

In the Irish Independent today, the Minister is quoted as saying the following:
"Mr Ryan said it would give the State greater energy security, help bring down gas prices and bring in €1.7bn in corporation taxes over the project's estimated 15-20 year lifespan."

Let's look at that statement in it's three parts:

1. According to Shell's figures the amount of gas in the Corrib field is equivalent to what Ireland consumes in about eight years. Under the terms of its gas exploration licence, the Shell consortium is at liberty to sell the gas to the highest bidder, even if that bidder is outside the state. In other words, Bord Gáis will have to bid against buyers of gas in other countries.

At the Exploring Atlantic Ireland conference in Dublin in 2006, the assistant secretary of the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, Martin Brennan, told the international audience of potential investors in Ireland's offshore gas that "there are now three interconnectors between Ireland and the UK, so if you do hit a gush, there's plenty of market out there."

So how will it give the state greater energy security when the Corrib partners are allowed to sell it to whoever they want? Minister Ryan knows all this, so why does he repeat the lie that Corrib will give the State greater energy security?

Is there any threat to security of supply anyway? No one in the know seems to think there is. What evidence does he have that this problem (which Corrib does not solve) actually exists?

2. Ryan says the Corrib exploitation will "help bring down gas prices". But since he knows that
Bord Gáis must buy the gas at market rates, he knows this is not true.

On RTÉ radio's Five-Seven-Live on Friday 21 July 2006, David Bunworth, the head of Bord Gáis Energy Supply, was asked would the Corrib gas project make any difference to the price Irish people pay for gas. "No, it won't," he replied.

Is the Minister saying that Bord Gáis is lying? Or is he? And if it's him - why does he keep telling the same lies?

3. Minister Ryan says the Corrib field will "bring in €1.7bn in corporation taxes over the project's estimated 15-20 year lifespan." Where does this figure come from?

Shell are allowed to write off 100 per cent of their exploration and development costs going back 20 years, and they can also include ancillary expenses like the legal costs of jailing the Rossport Five. So far in Ireland, Shell have not paid a cent in tax, and Shell Exploration and Production Ireland Limited record losses every year. Why does the Minister think that Shell will abandon their practice of paying as little tax as possible in every area they operate in?

Of course, Minister Ryan may know some things we don't. He is surrounded, after all, by the best brains in the industry, who give him top notch advice. You can see them going in and out of his office whenever he is there. many of them have been working in the energy business for many years, employed by the big companies like, er, Shell.

But he's his own man. He is a committed environmentalist who believes that the threat of climate change is the biggest problem this country has ever faced.

So the idea that a Green Party Minister would justify the construction of a fossil fuel burning refinery based on lies supplied to him by industry lobbyists is preposterous isn't it?

Isn't it?