The Minister with responsibility for Natural resources has insisted no fracking has taken place in the Clare Basin or anywhere in Ireland, and no application has been made for persmission to carry out the controversial practice.
Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd was responding to calls to suspend the licensing option granted to companies in Ireland, in light of the recent calls to ban hydraulic fracturing by Clare County Council.
Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique used by oil exploration companies to extract natural gas from shale.
It’s proved controversial in some countries due to alleged negative environmental consequences and though no fracking has taken place in the Clare basin – the canadian company Enegi Oil has been licensed to explore the potential for fracking in an area from Loop Head towards the Cliffs of Moher and into Mid Clare.
Speaking in the Dail former Minister Eamonn O’Cuiv stated that Clare County Council decided not to allow fracking and asked if the Government had examined the reasons France had banned it
Natural Resources Minister Fergus O’Dowd said he “inherited the decision made by the previous government, which granted preliminary onshore licensing options to companies, over parts of the Lough Allen and Clare basins – but he stressed that no drilling or actual fracking is permitted under these licences, and any future applications will have to be considered by An Bord Pleanála, the EPA, the Commission for Energy Regulation and the government before they can go ahead.
