The comments by Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan this week that Ireland's oil and gas are a resource of the Irish people makes it sound like anyone could take a spade, dig a hole, extract some oil and use it to power their home.
If only it were that simple.
In reality, extracting any new resource from beneath Irish soil or sea is a long way off.
The Minister may have unveiled the details of the latest exploration licensing round for the Porcupine Basin area off the west coast of Ireland, but industry sources are quick to point out that it is what it says - an exploration licensing round.
In effect, all the Government is doing is asking companies to apply for a licence to test a small area of the vast 63,500 square-kilometre Porcupine Basin for oil or gas.
Even a spokesman for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources admitted that, in the best possible scenario, with oil bursting forth from the first test well drilled, it will be at least eight years from the awarding of the exploration licence to the start of production.
That means the Irish people - or the State on their behalf - will not be able to benefit from their resource until 2016 at the earliest.
The record for past discoveries leaves a lot to be desired, although there is no doubt the area off the west coast does hold potential.
According to Government estimates, there could be at least 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources (crude oil or gas) off the coast (Porcupine and Rockall basins combined), which, at $60 a barrel, would be worth about €455 billion.
Andrew Vinall, technical director at consultancy Hannon Westwood, has identified 24 billion barrels of unrisked oil equivalent in prospects in the two basins.
"There is definitely potential and the potential is large," says Vinall, adding that the area is very underexplored.
So far only 26 wells have been drilled in an area equal to more than two-thirds of the size of Ireland.
However, it is also worth noting that conditions off the west coast are more severe than in the North or Celtic seas, and drilling tends to be in deeper waters, which not only makes it more difficult but also more expensive.
Still, despite poor responses to past rounds - the most recent for Slyne, Erris and Donegal produced just five applications and four licences - the Government is banking on higher oil prices, improved technology and better availability of past data encouraging more applications.
"So much depends on the oil price, and that is attractive at the moment," says Fergus Cahill, chairman of the Irish Offshore Operators' Association.
"But there are plenty of very prospective areas in the world such as west Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh where people have a better chance of finding something."
For anyone interested in exploring off the west coast of Ireland, there are 229 full blocks and three part blocks up for grabs.
Of those, 84 full blocks and the three part blocks are in the North Porcupine, where potential licensees can submit plans for between one and three blocks per licence, with the remainder being in the South Porcupine, where each licence can cover a maximum of six blocks.
Strict plans must be laid down for the 12-year (North) or 13-year (South) licences, with at least one well required during the second phase (years four to six or five to seven).
"In all phases, the licensee will incur an obligation to rapidly and prudently appraise any potentially commercial discovery," the department says in the licensing document.
Cahill believes the changes to the licensing regime, both in terms of taxation - in August Mr Ryan imposed an additional resource tax of up to 15 per cent on the sector, increasing the State's take to as much as 40 per cent for the most lucrative fields - and reducing the phases to three-year slots, make it an even risky proposition.
Yet with Ireland's dependence on imported oil and gas standing at about 85 per cent, the involvement of as many companies as possible in this space has never been more important.
