Mr. John McElligott:

It is critical. In my introduction I asked how the members intend to make decisions at a high level. If we are stopping assessment of policies at a very high level, their hands are tied. The different political parties are very close in terms of their interpretation. They seem to accept that they have not assessed the sustainability issue. There seems to be acceptance that at a European level they have not assessed the project. I spoke to various people in the Directorate-General for Energy and they said they would assess it for the next PCI list. The precautionary principle is very strong in the EU. The members know there was a problem. The Minister knows there was a problem, as do his officials. Everybody knows we have not assessed emissions, which is critical. When Mr. Mitchell and I were in Brussels in May, we spent about an hour discussing the methodology that would be used and the criteria for discussing these projects. We deliberately asked the people we met if they intended to assess sustainability and they said, "Oh, but gas is good; it is the same for everybody". We told them there was a difference between fracked gas and conventional gas. They were very uncomfortable with that. That is the reason ACER came out afterwards and said we did not engage in a proper assessment.

The European Commission is breaking the law. The Irish know it is breaking the law but, at the moment, it is an Irish decision. The decision for Ireland was to put it on to the PCI list then wash its hands. It did a Pontius Pilate with it and said their hands were tied in Ireland. The members have a duty to ask the Minister what gave him the authority to make a political decision on energy policy, which is really regulation. He made a political decision. As politicians, and a committee, the members must get him to answer that question. They will ask us to pay big carbon taxes and encourage us to drive electric cars. On a personal level, in north Kerry, where I am from, near where all those other people are from, we will be asked to do that and they will tell us they might power them with fracked shale gas from America. What is the point?