Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

In October last year I requested the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct research and advise me on the environmental implications of hydraulic fracturing as a means of extracting natural gas from underground reserves. The agency is funding preliminary background research into the environmental aspects of shale gas extraction and the regulatory approaches of other countries, with a view to helping to establish best environmental practice. This research is in the form of a desk-based study being carried out by the University of Aberdeen.

The EPA proposes to commission further, more extensive, research on hydraulic fracturing in 2012. A working group involving representatives of my Department and the EPA has been established to develop the scope of this study. However, the final specification for this research will only be prepared after the EPA, an independent statutory body, has considered the output from the study under way at the University of Aberdeen. I understand the EPA expects to receive the report on that study in the coming weeks and expect it will make the final results of the study accessible to me as soon as they are available. Although my hair is grey with the subject, I have no plans to publish either a Green or White Paper at this stage.

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