Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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62. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 57 of 20 January 2021, if he will state his explicit commitment to legislate for a ban on oil and gas exploration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5489/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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On taking office as Minister, I made the Programme for Government commitment to end the issuing of new licences for the exploration and extraction of gas on the same basis as the decision taken in 2019 by the previous Government in relation to oil exploration and extraction, effective immediately. My Department is no longer accepting new applications for exploration licences for natural gas or oil, nor will there be any future licensing rounds in Closed areas. While there is no requirement for legislative underpinning, to ensure maximum clarity I plan to include provisions to put this commitment on a statutory basis as part of the forthcoming Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill.