Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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466. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which exploration licences continue to be taken up on and offshore; if promising or commercial discoveries have been made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16785/15]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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As I stated in reply to Question No. [11051/15] on the 12th March 2015, details of all authorisations granted by the Department are published in the six monthly reports to the Oireachtas, which I am obliged to lay before the Houses under the Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1999 and the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960, respectively. The last such report was in respect of the period ending 31 December, 2014. These details and reports are also available on my Department’s website at .

While there have been no commercial discoveries of oil or gas within the territory of the State in recent years there has been a positive upswing in the level of petroleum exploration activity in recent years, in particular acquisition of new seismic data. We need to see this translate into an increased level of exploration drilling in the coming years, if Ireland’s true petroleum potential is to be realised.

In a similar manner, while the number of active minerals prospecting licences indicate the prevailing state of mineral exploration in Ireland, no new commercially viable deposits of minerals have been discovered in recent years, although there have been some encouraging results, particularly in Counties Limerick and Clare. It is too early to determine however whether these results will lead to identification of commercially viable deposits.