Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 375: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if the process of fracking or hydraulic fracturing is being allowed to happen in the Shannon basin or in other areas in the west; if his attention has been drawn to the dangers and the environmental damage caused by fracking; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15068/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Earlier this year, following an open competition, my Department granted onshore Petroleum Licensing Options to three companies over parts of the North West Carboniferous Basin and the Clare Basin. The Licensing Options are designed to allow the companies assess the natural gas potential of the acreage largely based on desktop studies of existing data from previous petroleum exploration activity. The Licensing Options specifically exclude exploration drilling but may include shallow geological sampling.

Exploration activity under these authorisations is at an early stage and there is no certainty that it will lead to applications for follow-on exploration licences that would be required before exploration wells could be drilled. In the event hydraulic fracturing was envisaged as part of a possible future exploration or production programme, then that activity would be subject to an environmental impact assessment, including an appropriate public consultation phase.