Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Applications for licences to carry out exploration and production activities in jurisdictions outside the Republic of Ireland are matters solely for the authorities in those jurisdictions. Other than statutory trans-boundary consultation, the Irish authorities have no role in the consideration of such applications.

On the broader issue of unconventional gas exploration, officials in my Department have had regular contacts with their counterparts in Northern Ireland in regard to onshore exploration authorisations in the two jurisdictions. These contacts have facilitated an exchange of information on the nature of activities that have been licensed and their associated timelines. There has also been a sharing of information on the regulatory processes that apply in each jurisdiction. The focus of these engagements has been on information sharing, not on seeking to agree a joint North-South policy. In the case that a project in either jurisdiction were to advance to the exploration drilling stage, it would be subject to the regulatory processes that pertain in that jurisdiction. However, the environmental consideration of any proposed project in either jurisdiction will be subject to EU environmental legislation, including the provisions relating to consultation across borders where there could be a potential negative environmental impact in a neighbouring jurisdiction.

Both the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, NIEA, and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, GSNI, are members of the steering group overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency's comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of unconventional gas exploration and extraction in Ireland.

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