Mr. J. Enoch Powellasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give, on a comparable basis, the latest estimates of the lowest total capital costs of bringing a gas supply to Northern Ireland from Great Britain and from the Republic of Ireland, respectively.
§ Mr. Adam ButlerThe preliminary estimate, based on the present state of negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Ireland, of the capital cost to Northern Ireland of a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Republic's terminal at Dublin to a city gate station at Belfast is £21 million. In addition, the charge per therm of gas supplied to Northern Ireland by the Republic would include an element of contribution toward costs of transmission incurred by the Irish authorities. The total capital cost estimate for a gas supply from Moffat in Scotland to Belfast is £83 million. These costs exclude all associated project capital expenditure on transmission, mains, storage, conversion and so on which is assumed to be the same in each case. The figures given are at October 1981 prices.