Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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228. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of an issue (details supplied) that has been under consideration by the Geoscience Regulation Office in his Department since 28 March 2022; if his attention has been drawn to the possibility that the opportunity may pass for Ireland to establish the potential for a strategic reserve of indigenous gas if the exploration licence is allowed to expire; if he has considered this issue in the context of increased security of supply and gas pricing issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29636/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The application referred toin the Question is under consideration by my Department as any applications for follow-on authorisations require Ministerial consent, and are assessed against a number of criteria in accordance with Section 9A (1) of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960 and Section 3 of the 2007 Licensing Terms for Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Development and Production. This includes the technical competence of the applicant and the financial resources available to it in order to undertake the work programme and any other commitments pursuant to the relevant petroleum authorisation. My Department does not publish information on individual applications for authorisations whilst they are under consideration.