Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A prospecting licence is for prospecting only and does not give the licenceholder permission to mine. It is the prerogative of mining or prospecting companies to apply for the licences. We have to deal with the applications and a public consultation process is involved in that. A number of submissions were received during the consultation process. There were also a number of representations and queries from local people and politicians, in addition to an online petition that gathered more than 5,000 signatures. The submissions are being reviewed and a decision about whether to renew these licences is under consideration. Many of the issues raised included how prospecting will damage the environment, the threat to tourism, and the threat to farming. These will be considered in the evaluation process. This is being done in an open way and nothing is hidden. These are licences for prospecting only.

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