Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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139. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in view of the recently published national ground water vulnerability map which indicates that some of Leitrim's ground water may be extremely vulnerable and at risk of pollution or contamination, and that it was indicated the map will be used to better understand and manage land use and development that have the potential to impact on ground water, if he will now agree that hydraulic fracturing poses an unacceptable risk of pollution and-or contamination of extremely vulnerable groundwater, and that it should now be decided that hydraulic fracturing will not be permitted anywhere in Ireland. [52258/13]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The map referenced by the Deputy is a risk map that does not replace site specific investigations, but is appropriate for evaluating impact of potential contaminant release at the surface, or near surface, e.g. on site wastewater treatment systems, licensed landspreading and landfills.

With respect to exploration for unconventional gas, the map would be appropriate for assessing the risk associated with some activities, such as storage of flowback water, potential oil spills from machinery etc, but not for assessing subsurface risks. These risks, especially in an Irish hydrogeological context, are as yet not completely understood and therefore are a major element of the Unconventional Gas Exploration and Extraction Research project recently launched by the Environmental Protection Agency.

As both I and Minister Rabbitte have confirmed on several occasions, no applications proposing the use of hydraulic fracking will be considered in Ireland until the results of the EPA research are available and have been considered. It should also be recalled that any such application would be the subject of Environmental Impact Assessment, which must consider the potential impacts of any unconventional gas exploration or exploitation on water.