Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if an exploration licence was granted in the last days of the last Dáil; if it allows for fracking; and, if so, the precautions required of these companies to mitigate the environmental damage that could arise from this practice. [15567/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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In February of this year, following a detailed evaluation of applications received in the 2010 onshore licensing competition, my Department offered 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 their 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.