A secret Arab consortium was interested in setting up an oil refinery near Hook Head in the mid-1970s, according to State files just released.
The plan was backed by Lord Dunsany of Meath and businessman Arnold Breen.
Lord Dunsany wrote to taoiseach Liam Cosgrave in November 1976 to promote the plan. He explained that two Arab groups had tried but failed to establish a refinery at Bordeaux and had expressed an interest in an Arab-controlled Irish refinery instead. They would undercut other brands and help to keep the cost of petrol under £1.50 a gallon, Lord Dunsany wrote.
The refinery would be built on the eastern shore of the Waterford haven and have a capacity of two million barrels a day, with the surplus being sold in Europe. Lord Dunsany said the Arabs would accept an investment ratio of 10 per cent Irish, 90 per cent Arab.
Lord Dunsany said Ireland enjoyed a lot of good will in the Middle East, "based on our revolutionary and anti-colonial background". He said Mr Breen was an arms merchant, a relative of the late Fianna Fáil deputy Dan Breen, and a "personal friend to many sheiks".
In January 1977, a meeting was held between minister for transport and power Tom Fitzpatrick, Breen and Lord Dunsany.
A department official at the meeting later wrote that Breen told the minister he could not identify the backers, but they were "Saudi personages of importance" and there was "unlimited supplies" of "royal" money available.
He said the group wanted the government to spend "a few thousand pounds" on a pre-feasibility study. Lord Dunsany said the Arabs felt that the government "were not so open to blackmail by the major oil companies".
The official said Lord Dunsany and Breen appeared to be unaware of a study of possible coastal refinery sites in which Hook Head was "not so highly regarded".
"Their interest in a refinery site at the Hook seemingly derived primarily from Lord Dunsany's close knowledge of the area as a yachtsman," the official said.
