Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that.

How can the Department independently evaluate the figures proposed by a company in support of its case for the receipt of an exploration licence, given the paucity of information available on geological data? Given the possibility that a company may sell on the permission or engage in a joint venture with another company, how will the Department enforce commitments made by it?

Two weeks ago the advice of the European Commissioner for Energy to member states, unofficially, seemed to be not to make a decision for three to five years because work was ongoing and data were still coming in. That provided some reassurance until I received a newsletter, EU News Bulletin, published by the Irish Regions Brussels office of September 2012, issue No. 94. Lo and behold, I note a budget of €200,000 has been set aside to cover five or six hearings and campaigns with a view to organising early stage dialogue with citizens and launch information campaigns on shale gas as a basis for informing decision-making on its potential industrial exploitation. Many members of the community in north Leitrim will have heard the European Commissioner saying there was insufficient information available and telling people to wait and see what happened. At the same time, representatives of a company will not appear before the committee because it is too early to meet legislators, but it will talk to communities to split them. Members of the committee have insufficient information. What is the gap between what we need to know and what we know? People will think we are being led down a rosy path in the garden. They will think decisions have already been made and that the community is being channelled in a certain direction. The evidence seems to bear this out.