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State receives €104m from gas fields [Not Corrib though]

By: 
Gordon Deegan - Irish Independent

The State has received over €104m in royalty payments from the operator of the Kinsale and Ballycotton gas fields off the coast of Cork since 1998, new figures show.

According to new figures provided by the Junior Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Sean Kyne, the State last year got €700,000 in royalties from Kinsale and Ballycotton. The payments have been at their lowest level over the past two years in the figures provided to TD Catherine Murphy in a written Dáil reply covering the past two decades.

The payout of €700,000 last year followed a payout of €300,000 in 2016. The amount received last year is just a fraction of the €12.2m in royalties received from the two fields in 2006.

Minister Kyne said royalties are not payable in respect of production from the Seven Heads and Corrib gas fields. Last year, the new operator of the Corrib Gas Field, Vermilion, told investors that it does not expect any cash income taxes from profits on the project "for the foreseeable future".

Deputy Murphy said yesterday: "The Corrib licence was granted under an older licensing system. No royalties are payable, just corporation tax of 25pc less any allowances that the companies enjoy. That system was completely flawed and yet again we find that there are only marginal returns for taxpayers from new gas finds.

"It's important to remember that these are citizen-owned fields. Companies are here because we let them. We are effectively giving away our natural resources for very little return," she claimed.

Posted Date: 
28 January 2018

If you smell gas in Ireland

By: 
Parodise Island - YouTube

Important safety video by Shell in partnership with Gas Networks Ireland on steps to take if you smell a gas leak, featuring important health and safety demonstrations by Shell and An Garda Síochána.

Posted Date: 
26 October 2017

Ireland's Corrib gas field output to resume Wednesday - Statoil

By: 
Reuters

[Shell to Sea]  It seems that Shell are being allowed to start up supplying gas to the national gas grid again, despite still no public explanation being given as to what caused the danger and pollution that resulted from unodourised gas being put on the grid.  The EPA/CER has still not responded to any on Shell to Sea's questions sent on the 1st October. 

The restart raises other questions for the EPA/CER

Posted Date: 
11 October 2017

Shell to Sea ask informed questions and demand answers from statutory bodies investigating Shell.

News Release - Issued by Shell to Sea - Oct 1st, 2017 - For immediate release

-- Shell to Sea has cumulative knowledge of the Shell/Corrib project, and is capable and willing to put hard questions to CER and EPA. --

The latest fiasco in the Shell refinery at Bellanaboy resulted in as yet unspecified volumes of un-odourised gas entering the national gas grid and as yet unknown quantities of toxins released to land, sea and air in Erris, north Mayo. Shell to Sea has produced a list of specific questions for CER (recently renamed to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities) and EPA, the two statutory bodies charged with investigating this most recent lapse in Shell's 'global technical expertise'. [1, 2]

The list of 22 questions (copied below) is not exhaustive; it may evolve to include other questions and, depending on the accuracy of the answers received from CER and EPA may include follow-up questions.

Press Release: No state regulation for Shell once again

[Shell to Sea]  RTE are continuing their policy of silencing local people's voice and instead have Minister Michael Ring speaking about peoples safety concerns.  It is a way too late for him to be acting concerned about safety as he abandoned the people of Kilcommon in our campaign on the safety of the project that was forced on the community by a corrupt state. In 2005 when the Rossport 5 were in jail Michael Ring stated at a rally in Castlebar that if necessary he would go to jail to stop this project. Obviously the big boys and girls in Fine Gael had a word in his ear because he went silent from that day on.

 
News Release - Issued by Shell to Sea - Sept 22nd, 2017 - For immediate release

--   Shell's  incompetence puts lives in danger all over Mayo and Galway. --

Following Shell's latest fiasco of putting odourless gas into the Irish gas network, Shell to Sea has again highlighted the lack of regulation and monitoring of Shell in relation to the Corrib Gas project.  [1,2]

 


Picture of Bellanaboy flaring taken from Elly Bay - Fergus Mac Suibhne

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