A secret Arabian consortium was keen to build an oil refinery near Hook Head guaranteeing cheap fuel for the country, archives have revealed.
The plan, put to the Government through Lord Randal Dunsany in 1976 and involving two unnamed companies, would also have allowed Ireland to sell surplus Saudi oil to Europe.
The consortium identified a site on the east shore of the Waterford Haven near Hook Head convenient for tankers on the "Cape route" and distribution to Europe.
The Government would only have been required to put up 10 per cent of the investment. Arnold Breen, a relation of Dan Breen TD, was central to the idea.
Well connected in the Middle East, he had a long association and extensive knowledge of the region, and had been made aware a consortium was interested in Ireland after failing to strike a deal on a site near Bordeaux, France.
Lord Dunsany, acting as a go-between, wrote to Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave suggesting the consortium was "fed up" with the French.
"I asserted that Ireland enjoyed a lot of goodwill in the Middle East based on our revolutionary and anti-colonial background," he wrote.
"The fact that many Irishmen have been concerned in colonial activity is overlooked." Lord Dunsany also warned the consortium, with one company based in the Gulf and the other in Saudi Arabia, wished to remain confidential.