Part of Oral Answers to Questions – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:00 pm on 19 March 2013.
Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. The Minister will be aware of a recent report on energy that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) published that said that the extraction of shale gas could lead to a reduction in energy prices of between 25% and 40%. Would the Minister agree with that claim, or would she agree with me that it would be extremely naive for any of us to think that those with a vested interest in high energy prices would allow the production of shale oil that would be sufficient to result in such a huge reduction in energy prices?