Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The current position in Ireland with respect to the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is that my Department has not approved any application for, nor licensed the use of, hydraulic fracturing in the Irish onshore.

Notwithstanding this position, however, I understand there are genuine concerns about the potential environmental considerations which may be associated with such activities. For this reason in October 2011, I asked the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to examine the whole issue of fracking and its potential environmental implications with particular reference to Irish geological conditions.

The EPA is in the process of finalising terms of reference to engage the appropriate expertise in this regard. These draft terms of reference have been the subject of a public consultation process. Over 1,000 submissions were received under this process and these are being examined. It is anticipated that, following the engagement of the relevant experts, the study will take considerable time to complete, leading to a potential publication date in 2015. The key questions to be addressed by this research are if this technology can be used while fully protecting the environment and what the best environmental practice in using this technology might be.

Any environmental guidance issued with respect to the conduct of fracking activities in Ireland would be informed by the findings of this research, were the research to find that such activities could be undertaken in an environmentally compliant manner. From a safety perspective, any proposed fracking activities would come under the remit of the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER. The regulator has already published statutory guidelines on the submission of safety cases relating to designated petroleum activities which will come into effect in November of this year.

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