Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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416. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has any plans to examine seabed ice gas reserves that lie off the South West Coast;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19111/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I understand that there are early indications that methane hydrates may be present offshore of the west of Ireland, in particular in the area of the Rockall Basin. However, this is unproven and would require data acquisition, particularly core drilling, in order to establish any existence of hydrates offshore Ireland. Whilst methane hydrates may represent a future source of hydrocarbons, methane hydrate extraction and production technologies are still in developmental phase. As such the focus of my Department’s efforts is on the encouragement of exploration investment in the known, but largely unproven, oil and gas potential of Ireland’s offshore basins.