MINISTER FOR Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, has come under pressure from a fellow Labour Party TD to halt the controversial practice of fracking until further reports on the safety of the system are conducted.
Clare Labour TD Michael McNamara called for a moratorium to be introduced nationally.
Clare County Council became the first local authority to agree to make provisions in its county development plan for a ban on fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to extract natural gas from shale.
UK-based Enegi Oil has already secured a licence from the Department of Energy to carry out exploratory work on an area of about 1,282sq km (495sq miles) to establish its potential for a commercially viable deposit of shale natural gas.
Mr McNamara said: “I am very concerned that fracking . . . could in the future be carried out in Clare, a concern which is shared by many members of the Labour Party. I would, therefore, propose that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture, of which I am a member, recommend a national moratorium on fracking until it has received and considered the results of an extensive study on the environmental implications of hydraulic fracturing . . .
“While licensing options were awarded by the previous government in 2011, these are preliminary authorisations and are designed only to allow the companies assess the natural gas potential of the acreage largely based on desktop studies of existing data. Exploration drilling, including drilling that would involve hydraulic fracturing, is specifically excluded under these licensing options,” he said.
“The Minister for Communications and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, has provided assurances to me that in the event that any of the companies involved decide to apply for an exploration licence that proposed the use of hydraulic fracturing, the application would have to be set out in detail and be supported by an environmental impact statement . . .
“The department would also consult with other relevant statutory authorities . . . before reaching any decision,” he added.