The next speaker is Deputy Bríd Smith. I would appreciate brevity.

I will be brief. I am sure that, like the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, the Taoiseach is aware that tomorrow the LNG project in Shannon, namely, the fracked gas project, is to be ratified on the list of projects of common interest, PCI, in the European Union. Sweden has pulled its LNG project from the list of PCIs. I appeal to the Taoiseach to listen to the scientists and not proceed with the fracked gas terminal to be located at Shannon if we sign off on the list. The Taoiseach has one day to make this decision, about which people are protesting to him via email and outside Leinster House. People are calling on him to listen to the science and not use fracked gas from North America and to pull the LNG project in Shannon from the PCI list. As I said, he has only one day to make up his mind and follow the example of Sweden.

I call Deputy Eamon Ryan to raise the same issue.

The Minister says this PCI is in our common interests. I believe it is not. It does provide for advance planning of any project. The Minister says it has already received planning already, but this is far from certain. Putting it through a further planning process would not be appropriate. The Minister says he will not support the provision of finance for it, but we do not know what the American Government or other actors may do to pursue the project. It is not in our interests. Following on from questions raised last week by Ciarán Cuffe, MEP, to the European Commission, we know that it could be stopped tomorrow. I am asking that the Government do this. Not proceeding with it would be in our common interests. This is a climate change issue of the first order. If the Government wants to show leadership in dealing with climate change, it should stop this project now.

I thank the Deputies for raising the issue. It a private sector project, not a Government one. The advice is that it could be useful for Ireland when it comes to future energy security. Recognising that we will continue to use natural gas for decades ahead, we are reliant on imported gas through the pipeline with the United Kingdom and gas from the Corrib field. Gas from the Corrib field will soon run out. That will leave us with the pipeline from the United Kingdom as our only source of supply. If it were ever to be cut off, we would be in serious trouble almost immediately and faced with brown-outs and black-outs.

It is fracked gas.

A terminal on the other side of the country provides an alternative way of bringing gas in. It does not only have to be fracked gas. It could be gas from the North Sea also.

It has to be fracked gas in Shannon.