Mayo must gain from the much-publicised gas find west of Achill island, according to local representatives. Talk of a Bord Gais pipeline between Dublin and Galway will not appease the politicians, who are adamant that this must not be the only benefit to the west and that Galway is not the only western county.
The Fine Gael deputy, Mr Jim Higgins, has called on the Government to convene talks with Enterprise Oil and Statoil to establish the full economic benefit, while the Mayo Fianna Fail TD, Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn, welcomed the news but said her primary concern was the choice of landfall for the gas. She said a land-based service port must be established on the west coast.
The Fine Gael senator and marine spokesman, Mr Ernie Caffrey, who has championed a harbour development in Mayo for many years, has proposed that the idle Asahi site near Killala be used for onshore facilities. Some of the deepest water in Europe lies 200 metres from the shore in Killala Bay, he said, and the Asahi warehousing could be an ideal "shore base".
He has congratulated Enterprise Oil in its "persistence, geological intuition and expertise" in what was once regarded as a barren area. Although it lies in 350 metres of water, the Corrib reservoir is not regarded as geologically complex.
Mr Mike Cunningham, a Mayo-based offshore exploration expert and former director of Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Ltd, says it could be drained with three to six subsea wells, which could be tied back to a well-head platform or an onshore plant.
Writing in the Western People, Mr Cunningham says the technological challenges are few in spite of what the company might say, given the existing technology and the subsea experience of the companies.
"The reticence of the industry to communicate and discuss their plans makes it particularly difficult to ascertain what is planned for Mayo's Corrib gas," he says. He compares the Government response to that of Norway during its oil finds. "Norwegian communities along their western seaboard demanded that they be kept fully informed at all stages from licence awards, seismic operations, through to exploration and development.
"Their demands were accommodated and indeed their local and national politicians, together with interested groups, involved themselves in all aspects of the offshore oil and gas industry from the very beginning."