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

I thank the Minister of State. He made a good attempt to try to convince me of the independence and integrity of the project. His attempt failed and will fail with most reasonable people listening to the debate.

There is a wider context. I have spoken to many Deputies and Ministers in the House. All of them told me fracking will never be allowed to happen on this small island. It is time there was political accountability and that political responsibility was taken. It is time we acknowledge that the initial mistake was to issue an invitation to submit expressions of interest. It is now time to say we will not allow fracking in this country.

It is time we stopped funding the EPA to gather information that energy companies will be able to use in a future legal action against this country, in particular when the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and investor-state dispute settlement are introduced. Make no mistake about it, what we are doing is paying burglars and giving them the plans of our houses in order that they can come back and burgle us. The train is rolling. Who is in charge?

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