Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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18. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of licences for gas exploration in or in the vicinity of the Corrib gas field that still subsist and when those licences were granted. [15286/22]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will grant extensions to those licences for gas exploration in or in the vicinity of the Corrib gas field that still subsist in order to improve Ireland’s chances of securing a domestic gas supply as a transition fuel in view of gas being a transition fuel until Ireland is fully reliant on renewables. [15287/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 19 together.

Section 57 of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960 requires that I lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas every six months a report detailing all exploration activities, including petroleum exploration authorisations granted during the period of the report. The last such report laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas was in respect of the six-month period ending 31 December 2021. In addition, both a report on the status of all petroleum authorisations, and a map showing where they are located offshore, are published on a quarterly basis on gov.ie (www.gov.ie/en/publication/10d43-acreage-reports-and-concession-maps/). The most recent such report and map were published in respect of the three month period ending 31 December 2021.

There are no current applications for licence extensions in the area referred to by the Deputy.