Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)

I welcome the Minister. I commend the committee and its report. I am not a member of the committee but particularly welcome the clarity of the recommendations, the manner in which they are laid out and the work members have done to achieve this.

I am interested in hearing the Minister's view on a couple of the observations of the committee, particularly on the consultation process involving local communities. We all know now that there is no way in which any project of this nature can be embarked upon without consultation with local communities. We have almost arrived at a position in which we need to know what constitutes best practice for consultation, such that it will be genuinely effective and in order that some parts of the community will not believe others have usurped their opportunity to speak. Given the sorts of arguments that break out at community level, we need to ensure that when the process is put in place, it will have been put in place in the best possible way to ensure it will have real meaning. The people in local communities must feel they have genuinely been consulted and that they will be listened to.

Let me consider the idea that legislation should be kept transparent and simple. I am sure this is welcome. Those who examine legislation always wonder what most of it means. There is much at stake, as Senator Mooney reminded us. It is not as if companies are queueing up and that we are bleeding the taxpayer dry. This is not the case. What we want to do is have an industry and develop it correctly and appropriately.

The recommendation for the prohibition of the flaring of gas is very specific. It is worth making and I am heartened to see it in the report. Has the Minister any observation on it?

Other Members have referred to the relationship we may have with Norway. I am sure the Minister stated in the past that the circumstances of Norway and Ireland are not the same, but I hope the Department will draw on Norwegian experience and expertise, if it is available and if the Norwegians are willing to assist us. That would be good.

I welcomed the news earlier this week on the wind farms being set up in Offaly. While this is not directly related to the committee's work at this point, I recommend the investment and welcome the export opportunities that were mentioned. This sort of progress is a reminder to us all that hydrocarbons are ultimately going to run out.

Like many other Senators, I will take the opportunity to mention fracking. One item of information I have been looking at relates to reports from Alberta, Canada, earlier this year. The relevant authorities have become very concerned about recent reports about water contamination and the use of methanol. Fracking is a new form of exploration and has been described as a "brute force technique". These are probably good words to describe the process.

The 2011 US Congress report discloses that fracking fluids often contain substances such as coffee grinds, salt, ceramic balls, walnut hulls, lead, petroleum distillates and methanol, thus showing that anything can be used in the process. Therefore, it renders it unsafe. We need to have a serious debate on this. We will raise the issue again. We acknowledge that it will be part of the debate on how we look after our future energy needs. Consultation will be extremely important because this is such a difficult area.