Irish gas supplies will run out within nine years, the CEO of the Irish Offshore Operators Association has warned.
Mandy Johnston was speaking after the Government clarified that its plan to phase out oil exploration in Irish waters relates only to future exploration licences.
Around half of Ireland's gas supplies come from Kinsale and Corrib, but Ms Johnston said "those resources are depleting".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke said that Kinsale will "run out next year and Corrib will probably only exist for another eight to nine years".
Ms Johnston said that in the long-term, it is very important that Ireland finds another indigenous supply.
Ireland's is already fully reliant on oil imports, with 100% of the bought from abroad.
Reiterating the need to find alternative energy sources, Ms Johnston said that if the number of electric cars increases significantly over the next few years, the Government will need to figure out how to power them all.
"That's why we need a new Corrib or a new Kinsale," she said. "We still need energy at the flick of a switch, even when those renewable energies are on stream and up and running."
She added it is not always easy to separate exploration for gas from exploration for oil.
"When you start an exploration, you don't actually know what it is you're going to find. You could find oil, you could find gas, you could find rock, you could find water.
"You don't know what you're going to find until you start looking," she said.
She also said that a possible future ban on exploration licences being issued could have a significant impact on potential investors, and that companies who might be looking at Ireland to invest in the long-term could see energy security as a risk.
She added that after Brexit, Ireland will be the only EU member state cut off from mainland Europe's energy supply, and that she is not convinced that Ireland would be the first priority if it came to a supply issue.
