Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If Deputy Michael Colreavy permits me, I will answer the question of Deputy McEntee first as she must leave the meeting. I have described the projects of common interest in the lingo of the Union. Each member state puts forward what it thinks are projects that qualify as projects of common interest. Then, the battle takes place to access funding. Even when it is designated a project of common interest, it does not automatically follow that every member state gets funding for every project. That would very soon exhaust the resources available. A committee meets in Brussels and we have national representative on it. It goes through the projects and the process, with the committee going through the criteria that ought to apply. We do not yet know what will come out of it in the end but work is under way. A person from my Department is on the committee.

With regard to Deputy Colreavy's question, there is not a week of the year that we or the sector are not engaged in the evolution of new technology and new innovation in terms of the energy landscape.

We are heading down the road towards smart metering, for example. New innovations in terms of energy efficiency and storage are being worked on. Technology is developing all the time.

I do not think one could say from the discussion at European level on hydraulic fracturing so far that it is regarded as normal. Member states come to it with totally different perspectives. Several member states, like ourselves, are engaged in detailed studies of the issue. It is an area in which one needs to know the science as well.

Defoliation in a scenic area like that from which the Deputy comes is an entirely different matter but I repeat there is no fracking going on in this country currently. All we are doing is using the expertise available to the State to give us best advice on what is the position. I would have to disagree with the Deputy on his description of what is going on in the United States inasmuch as I am not challenging whether there is discomfiture among some communities about hydraulic fracturing but I am talking about its economic impact in the United States. If Commissioner Oettinger was here rather than me, he would say that as European Union Commissioner for Energy, this has competitiveness implications for Europe and that he cannot avoid it.

In regard to what we are doing, I will read the following to the Deputy. Such an assessment would entail consideration of the potential impacts of the project on population, fauna, flora, soil, water, air, climatic factors, material assets, including the architectural and archaeological heritage, landscape and the interrelationship between the above factors. I think the Deputy will agree that is a pretty succinct but none the less comprehensive review.

On the Deputy's question about whether I can tell what size the protests will be, I cannot do that but the Deputy can see from the-----