Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The Deputy mentioned lobbying. I wanted to get it on the record that I have not been lobbied.

With regard to the issuing of a licence, the Deputy said a further licence cannot be issued if such and such does not happen. The licence which I sanctioned two weeks ago was based on the fact there was no reason not to give that licence. The applicant met all of the environmental, financial and regulatory standards it had to meet, so I was not able to not grant that licence. By the way, that is an exploratory licence to drill, not to do anything else. There is terminology we use and it is important to say that.

I was asked why it was today or yesterday that I mentioned the whole idea of a money message. I want to put on record that, as I said in my opening remarks, I first raised this in November, when I said there were financial implications. The adjudication as to whether there is a money message is at the behest of the Ceann Comhairle and he has deemed that a money message is required. These are the facts.