asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy if he will indicate his plans for the Navan ore body; and how he sees the working relationship between the two mining companies there, Tara Mines Limited and Bula Mines.

The two mining companies have legal rights to develop their respective portions of the Navan orebody and the manner in which they are doing, or plan to do, this is primarily a matter for them. These rights are, of course, subject to the terms of the lease and agreements to which I am a party and subject also to planning and other statutory requirements.

At the present time, and particularly in view of the fact that one of the companies has not yet obtained planning permission for its mining development, it is not feasible to suggest the kind of working relationship between the two operators which would be most appropriate. The fullest co-operation between them is clearly desirable in the national interest and I will do what I can to promote such co-operation.

Has the Minister been in contact with either or one of the two companies, or with both of them, about this matter? Have any communications been formally sent to the two companies about this matter?

My Department are constantly in communication with both companies. As I have explained in the reply, the question of their co-operating in their mining operations will not arise until both of them are actually mining, or in a position to mine. As the Deputy is aware, one of the companies, as I have already pointed out, has not yet got planning permission. Therefore, there is no way in which any scheme of co-operation could be implemented at this time.

Surely the Minister will agree that, because factors about such operations are important in the granting of permission, now is the time, before planning permission has been granted, for his Department to communicate whatever viewpoint the Government have on this matter rather than waiting until the permission has been granted?

As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, the difficulty is that until planning permission is granted we do not know, first of all, whether one of the companies will ever get permission to mine and, secondly, we do not know under what conditions it will get permission to mine. As I understand it, the application is for opencast mining. If it gets permission to mine but not to carry on opencast mining the situation is radically different from what this company envisaged or appears to envisage in its earlier days. The question of co-operation would have to be looked at then in a very different light. It is only right to point out to the Deputy that there are conditions in relation to co-operation in the agreement with one of the companies and in the lease with the other company. Certainly the conditions in regard to co-operation in the agreement with the company which has not yet got planning permission are not very helpful from the point of view of enabling the State to insist on reasonable co-operation because there are a number of areas or headings where the right of the State to ask for co-operation is specifically excluded.

Has the Minister's Department got a definite point of view as to what form of co-operation should take place in the interests of this orebody as of now, and has that viewpoint been communicated to those companies?

The Department cannot form a final, definitive viewpoint on co-operation until they know what manner of mining will be permitted, if any at all, to one of the companies.

31.