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

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 15, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:“(12) A petroleum undertaking shall not use the method of flaring of gas.

(13) A petroleum undertaking shall not use unconventional methods of gas exploration or extraction.”.

There are two aspects to the amendment. The first is that a petroleum undertaking shall not use the method of flaring gas. I understand the flaring of gas is sometimes necessary on safety grounds and that it is used to test the volume of supply during the exploratory phase. However, in many places in the world, there is continuous flaring of gas. Norway banned it many years ago because it is a waste of resources and releases an unnecessary amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture, in its report of 2012 entitled Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, recommended that the practice be banned. I would like to have seen this in the legislation.

May I speak to the second amendment now?

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