LNG and fracked gas amendments
Deputy Harkin says planning amendments amount to a U-turn that will facilitate LNG imports and fracked gas. Minister Ryan rejects that interpretation, saying the changes are technical only and do not alter the State's position on fracked gas or commercial LNG, which the Deputy dismisses as a non-answer.
On page 36 of the programme for Government, it states:
As Ireland moves towards carbon neutrality, we do not believe that it makes sense to develop LNG gas import terminals importing fracked gas ... We do not support the importation of fracked gas ...
Yet the Government has done a U-turn with the amendments to the planning Bill, which means we will end up importing large quantities of fracked gas to feed either an onshore or offshore LNG terminal.
The Government must take responsibility for the negative health impacts on those communities, mainly in the US, from which we will import fracked gas and, crucially, for the upstream methane emissions that will accelerate climate change. My question for the Taoiseach is very simple: will he keep his promise during his last days as Taoiseach of the Thirty-third Dáil to reinstate the ban on all LNG terminals and the importation of fracked gas?
Comment on this
The Deputy is reading something into the planning amendment that is not the case. There is no intention in it to open the door to changing the position with regard to either fracked gas or the development of commercial LNG facilities in this country. It was purely made for technical reasons, namely to ensure the legislation would be in line with other legislation so there would not be legal uncertainty regarding any development here. It gave no preferential benefit or signal in that regard.
We do have to tackle the climate change crisis, which is all the clearer every day, and that requires us to switch to the electrification of everything in our country and stop the use of all gas. I believe that, with the building of interconnectors, battery storage and solar and wind power facilities, we are starting to see a significant reduction in our own emissions, but a significant reduction in the use of gas is now also possible. That will be the way we provide greater security.