Ms Orla Ryan:

To reiterate what Mr. Collins has said, the Minister is the licensing authority. No petroleum activity of any description can take place without the Minister issuing a licence. No licences have been issued; no licences will be issued. The Minister has confirmed he supports the legislation that will set out to ban this process, so there is no concern in that regard.

Regarding Deputy Martin Kenny's question as to whether the concerns of local people were taken into consideration, our Department insisted that the terms of reference be put to public consultation and it was on foot of this public consultation that people's concerns regarding human health were added to the terms of reference and that somebody from the HSE was co-opted onto the committee to consider these issues. Therefore, there was quite detailed public consultation on the terms of reference that would consider in the first instance the potential impacts of fracking on both the environment and subsequently human health.