Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Details of all petroleum exploration authorisations granted are published on my Department's website on a quarterly basis. In addition, I am required to lay before the Oireachtas under the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960 half-yearly reports detailing all petroleum authorisations granted during the period of the report. The last such report was in respect of the six-month period ending 30 June 2018. To date in 2018, 12 licensing options have been converted to frontier exploration licences and the terms of the phases of three exploration licences have been extended.

Ireland will, within the EU and UN climate frameworks, pursue and achieve a transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy, underpinned by a secure and competitive energy supply, in the period to 2050. Within that context, it is accepted that Ireland will continue to require and use some, but significantly reduced, fossil fuels to meet the needs of our people, public transport, haulage, aviation, marine, home heating requirements, farming sector, medical device sector, manufacturing and industry. In that transition period, the development of Ireland’s offshore oil and gas resources has the potential to deliver significant and sustained benefits to the people of Ireland in terms of national and local economic development, technology learning, enhanced security of supply, import substitution and fiscal return. What is not compatible with Ireland's commitments to tackling climate change, however, is continuing to use the same levels and mix of fossil fuels that we use today. Demand levels must drop significantly. Therefore, the Government's approach to tackle emissions from fossil fuels is to focus efforts on energy efficiency and renewable energy, which the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has highlighted on numerous occasions and which make essential contributions to all of the major objectives of climate and energy policies, including improved competitiveness, security of supply, sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

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