NO HYDRAULIC fracking has taken place in the State and no application has been made to do so, Minister of State for Natural Resources Fergus O’Dowd told the Dáil as calls were made to suspend existing licensing options.

Former Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim) said that until research on the controversial drilling technique was available the licensing process should be halted in the Lough Allen and Clare basins.

It was “bizarre” that young couples could not build in Leitrim because of environmental standards on septic tanks, yet the Minister was “considering causing mini-earthquakes that could have an impact on ground water”.

Former minister Éamon Ó Cuív expressed regret that his Fianna Fáil-led government had granted initial licences “before we developed a policy on fracking”. He said Clare County Council had decided not to allow fracking and asked if the Government had examined the reasons France had banned fracking.

Mr Ó Cuív called on the Minister to develop a “broad-based, joined-up policy on the extraction of gas by hydraulic fracturing” and to publish it “before further licences are issued”.

Former Labour TD Patrick Nulty expressed concern about the impartiality of research on fracking by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the University of Aberdeen. He said the university “is funded substantially by the oil and gas industry” which had a “vested interest” in fracking.

But Mr O’Dowd insisted there was no question of getting a biased or one-sided report from an academic institution, which was a “repository of knowledge”. He said “we are happy to take the university’s advice”.

The university is undertaking a desk-based study for the EPA and a report is expected next month.

Mr O’Dowd said he “inherited the decision” made before the election by the previous government, which granted two-year “preliminary” onshore licensing options to three companies, over parts of the Lough Allen and Clare basins, and these were different from exploration licences.

He stressed: “Exploration drilling is not permitted under these authorisations.” It was too early to say if these options would progress to the exploration phase “let alone to a production phase” but such a project would require consent from An Bord Pleanála, the EPA, the Commission for Energy Regulation and the Minister for Energy and Natural Resources. Mr Naughten pointed to a row among “reputable scientists” in the US about the lack of sufficient data there to make a balanced decision. Mr O’Dowd said “if gas can be extracted without impacting on the environment and all the other issues are addressed, we have to consider that because of our energy deficit”.