Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his response but I do not think he really replied to the question. Do we have a wider policy framework in relation to fracking? The Minister of State says that only preliminary licences were given out but the presumption is that if that was successful, one would progress to the next licensing stage. Before we go any further with this, we should have a national policy on fracking. As well as the purely narrow environmental concerns, there are also human, social and community concerns. Members of the House might remember that previous governments decided not to allow mining for gold on Croagh Patrick, even if there were endless supplies there. That was because of the social and wider human concerns about it.

Is it intended that this country should develop a policy on fracking to take all these concerns - not just the purely narrow environmental ones - into account? Will the Minister of State clarify the status of Clare County Council's decision not to allow fracking there? Has the Minister of State examined the reasons why France has banned fracking? That seems to be a very serious decision for a government to take.

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