Crude alert: The facts behind Irish oil and gas exploration?

THE Co Dublin town of Dalkey has become the latest town in Ireland to be linked to a Dallas-style windfall and prospect of a sizeable oil discovery off its coast.

It follows on the heels of good news emerging from the Barryroe field south of Cork, and renewed efforts to strike it rich deep into the Atlantic off the Kerry coast at Dunquin.

There are other options in the crosshairs near Clare and Mayo and onshore exploration, or fracking, is under discussion for Roscommon, Fermanagh, and West Clare.