Mr. Matthew Collins:

I will respond to some of the questions Deputies Bríd Smith, Martin Kenny and Scanlon raised. I wish to clarify that there has been no fracking in Ireland, and the Minister is very clear that there is no window to the arrival of fracking, so the moratorium remains in place. We expect we shortly will have in place legislation that will prohibit fracking in Ireland. I wish to be clear also that the Minister is the licensing authority, so a licence would have to be approved by the Minister for any fracking activity to take place. Without that authorisation, it cannot go forward. If the Deputies would like some clarification on the process involved in this regard, I can ask my colleague to clarify it for them, but I hope my comments provide some reassurance to Deputies as to where we stand regarding the policy. No fracking has happened to date, and the moratorium remains in place and will remain in place until legislation to the contrary is in place.