Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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51. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extensions and renewals to licences for petroleum exploration issued in 2018; and the way in which the issuing of these licences is compatible with commitments to tackle climate change. [37615/18]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I assume the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, is taking this question. He usually does. I think I have asked a similar question previously. I will come to the reason I ask that question but I want to ask him about the extensions and renewals of licences for petroleum exploration issued this year and the way in which the issuing of these licences is compatible with and complements our commitments to tackle climate change.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Every time I ask a question on climate change, I can locate it in the context of another climate disaster or global event of climate and weather extremity. This week, we saw such extremes in the USA and the far east and the absolute destruction to life and planet they have caused. That is why I bang on about this all the time. Our situation and the threat to our planet and our lives on it are not getting better. The situation is increasingly getting worse and the evidence is out there.

I ask the Minister of State this question again to highlight an issue that was brought to the fore at the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment's discussion of my Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018, which took place on 2 July 2018. Dr. Amanda Slevin pointed out at the meeting that the way in which we issue licences and extensions means that private companies such as Providence can effectively lay claim to huge tracts of the ocean bed for long periods. There is a labyrinthine process of extending licences and leaseholds of which companies take advantage. On top of that, we heard about Ireland's very generous tax regime for oil and gas companies. If they do actually make any finds, the State gains very little financially as a result of that tax regime.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The vast majority of people in this House understand and accept the threat to our planet and the real, visual impact that we see in different parts of the world. That is why the Government wants to reduce the use of fossil fuels. I have been at pains to point out that the Bill the Deputy has proposed will not do anything to reduce the use of fossil fuels. It will mean we will be entirely reliant on other countries for the import of our oil and natural gas into the future. That is not the same as achieving the objectives we all share in terms of reducing the use of fossil fuels and meeting our climate targets and ambitions. That is the issue I have.

Regarding the tax regime, there have been changes which are part of the Finance Bill and which have taken place and have been agreed here in Dáil Éireann at various stages. They have been put in place based on best international practice.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is fair enough. We have obviously a very serious difference about how to tackle climate change: it emerges every time we have this discussion. The Bill I have before the House passed Second Stage. There was strong cross-party support for it although the Government may be opposing it. What the Government is doing by extending these licences and leaseholds is attempting to sabotage that Bill. If it does pass, the effect of it will be to say that we are leaving fossil fuels in the ground. That is the point of it. Science tells us that we must leave 80% of the known reserves in the ground, never mind finding new reserves, in order to reach our targets under the Paris Agreement. I believe the continual issuing of licences and extending of leaseholds is an attempt to sabotage the essence of that Bill, the aim of which is to say that Ireland will be a leader in terms of challenging the overuse of fossil fuels, their over-burning and over-extraction on a global scale. We could be a leader as one of maybe five countries that will have achieved this. I am just making the point and pointing out to the public that the extension and continued issuing of licences flies in the face of the Government's commitment on climate change.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is over time.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy's Bill passed Second Stage with a lot of support. I know the Bill is currently being debated as part of a wider discussion on energy security. The Deputy cited people who came before the committee and I know there were a number of experts on all sides who spoke. It is up to the committee now to decide on the next step. It may pursue the Bill as is, there may be a vote to end discussion on the Bill or it may be progressed to full Committee Stage with amendments to come back before the House. That will be the democratic decision of the committee.

The Government has its point of view. We are in a minority. We will put forward the case in respect of what we are doing, which is trying to reduce the use of fossil fuels rather than being wholly reliant on importing fossil fuels at the end of a pipeline or shipping lane. Who knows how future world turbulence might impact on the security of supply that we have in this country? That is why we are supporting the continued exploration offshore. However, we are a minority Government and the full Dáil and Seanad will determine the Deputy's Bill if the committee chooses to pursue it.