It was unacceptable that a pipeline was to be put in place which would apparently rob the west of Ireland of its gas, Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said. The Minister should be invited to explain the position, he said.

There should be an early debate to ensure that energy and competitive prices were available to people in the west who wanted to develop that area.The people in the west were paying the environmental price and they should be the ones who got the value of what was happening.

Mr Joe Costello (Lab) said that to take the gas across the country without having it extended generally to western areas would be unacceptable and would be detrimental to the economy.

Mr John Connor (FG) said oil and gas finds had transformed the poorest part of the UK, the northeastern part of north Scotland, in the late 1960s and early 70s. The British government had used these resources as an instrument of economic policy to develop the region. The result was that it had become one of the best off areas of the UK in terms of per capita income. It was important that this approach be adopted here.

Mr Ernie Caffrey (FG) said yesterday's announcements were outrageous and seemed to have a political input.

Meanwhile, Mr Brendan Ryan (Lab) questioned why the Taoiseach had set out to seek an EU declaration on our neutrality just a week after he had declared that if America decided to bomb anywhere else we were not neutral, we were four-square behind them.

The declaration on neutrality being sought by the Government became entirely meaningless if we did not have a policy of our own. Before we had another referendum on Nice we were entitled to know what the government thought.