Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the persons who will have rights to any gas extracted from beneath Coillte owned lands in the Lough Allen Basin. [43213/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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For clarity, I would like to advise the Deputy that neither an Exploration Licence nor a Petroleum Lease has been granted with respect to any land in the Lough Allen Basin.

On a general note, the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960 provides that all petroleum vests in the State. The Act also provides for a compensation mechanism for persons who immediately before the passing of that Act were entitled to an estate in minerals that included petroleum. These compensation provisions would only apply in circumstances where a commercial discovery had been made and petroleum was being extracted.

As the Deputy will be aware my Department does not have a statutory role in relation to the registration of property rights and accordingly does not have details of the property rights held by private individuals, Coillte or other corporate bodies.