Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My family and I live five or six miles from what would be the centre of operations in this case. One hears people talk about conflicts of interest; I certainly have one in this instance.

It is a pity this meeting is not being held in north Leitrim instead of on Kildare Street. At some stage members of the committee will need to meet in north Leitrim to see the countryside and the community we are discussing. I formally propose that a meeting be held on a site in what would be the centre of fracking operations. Can such a meeting be arranged? I will facilitate by providing a nice conference room that would be capable of accommodating the meeting.

To put it mildly, it is disappointing that representatives of Tamboran Resources did not see fit to attend this meeting. The reason they have given is that it is difficult to engage in meaningful discussions at this stage, yet, according to them, they continue to work closely with the relevant Departments in establishing dialogue with all stakeholders. Therefore, they are saying they do not have enough information to talk to legislators, but they do have enough information to talk to the community. Is it any wonder that the community has concerns about the validity of the information being passed at those meetings? Had Tamboran Resources representatives been here, I would have asked them to explain something. There are recent credible reports which cast serious doubt on the company's projected figures for the estimates of gas available, average well performance and projected well life. They also call into serious question the projected development costs, income projections, job number projections and, critically, the State income projections.

I have a vested interest and my position is very clear. It would constitute the worst form of social and environmental vandalism to turn the beautiful landscape of north Leitrim and subsequently counties Fermanagh, Cavan, Sligo, Tyrone and Donegal into what would be an industrial wasteland and put at risk our vital agrifood and tourism industries for the potential financial gain of a small number of people.