SIPTU has called on the Government to refer changes in offshore exploration licensing terms made by former energy minister Mr Ray Burke in 1987 to the Flood tribunal for investigation.
The union's national offshore committee says it is making its demand in response to recent media reports, most recently in the current issue of Magill, claiming that Mr Burke changed the terms in 1987 after a meeting with the oil companies. This meeting took place contrary to the advice of a senior adviser in his department, the magazine reports.
The new terms were introduced by the then minister for energy in late September 1987 and involved the abolition of both royalty payments and direct State participation in an oil or gas find.
Any benefits to the State would come in the form of taxation and Mr Burke had said the terms were similar to those in Britain and Spain. Offshore drilling in 1987 had not been successful, with exploration wells on the 49/9 and 50/6 blocks proving major disappointments.
The move reversed the terms introduced in 1975 by the then energy minister, Mr Justin Keating,which gave the State the right to take up to a 50 per cent stake in any discovery and also allowed for payment of royalties. The terms did say that the State's take might be less than 50 per cent in marginal fields. The terms were subsequently amended by former Labour leader and minister, Mr Dick Spring, in 1985 and 1986.
By 1987, when Mr Burke was minister, the only discoveries reported were a "small marginal" oil field off Waterford and a "possible" gas field off the coast of Cork. Ninety-eight wells had been drilled, mainly off the west and south coasts and £400 million had been spent by multinational exploration companies.
The companies were able to point to the Government's terms as a major stumbling block to any further prospecting. In 1992, the tax rate levied on oil and gas was lowered to 25 per cent by then minister, Mr Bobby Molloy.
SIPTU'S national offshore committee says while the decisions dating back to 1987 were justified as an incentive to exploration, "these changes and the even more generous 1992 changes that followed have been heavily criticised by industry experts as totally distorting the balance in favour of the oil companies".
If any "undue influence" is proven in relation to the decisions, all licences, authorisations and leases issued from 1987 on should be "frozen" in the national interest, pending "total examination".
A Department of the Marine and Natural Resources spokesman said yesterday that licence terms were periodically under review. There was "no evidence" of "thousands of oil and gas-bearing zones" in Ireland's economic area, contrary to a claim in Magill, he said.