Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill. Sinn Féin has been resolute in opposition to fracking across Ireland, North and South. We have campaigned against it in both parts of the island, and even at EU level. It is a dangerous and destructive practice and it needs to be banned entirely on the island. We recognise the risks of fracking and the negative climate, environmental and health impacts involved. It is completely unacceptable.

Earlier this year, Deputy Martin Kenny and I introduced a Bill to ban fracking. This followed on from the work done by the former Deputy, Michael Colreavy of Sinn Féin, who worked tirelessly in the last Dáil to have this banned. We are happy to see Deputy McLoughlin is following our lead and we hope he can bring the rest of his party with him and, indeed, bring the whole Dáil with him and bring this to a successful conclusion.

Ireland needs to focus on environmentally friendly renewable energies and ban destructive exploration like this. We have consistently maintained that this method of extraction should be banned, given its poor record internationally, for which the evidence is there. Therefore, we will be supporting the Bill to ban it in this part of the island. However, it is crucial that we have an island-wide approach in dealing with the issue. The threat posed by fracking does not stop at the Border. I commend the work carried out by Sinn Féin representatives in the North, who have worked to try to halt any potential fracking projects in the Six Counties. We hope other parties up there that have a different view will change their mind.

Some of the proponents of fracking have made claims it will boost job creation and economic development. On the contrary, we believe the practice is one of the biggest threats to Ireland's most successful industries, namley, agriculture and food production, which employ hundreds of thousands of people. The high quality of produce from tillage and livestock will be put at serious risk from fracking were we to go down this road. Tourism also employs thousands of people. With visitors coming to Ireland for the scenery, the quality of the environment and the landscape is a huge selling point internationally. Millions of people flock to Ireland from around the world to experience that, to sample the clean countryside and to enjoy the natural environment, such as in the north-west, but also in counties such as my own county of Laois. This contributes billions to our economy. It would be crazy to jeopardise this industry for the short-term gains that might be had from fracking.

The proponents of fracking do not take into consideration the potential dangers that are associated with fracking, such as water contamination, the use of toxic chemicals in the process and what is done with the wastewater afterwards. We have read reports of what happened in other parts of the world. To take the United States, the use of fracking has been the cause of heavy contamination of drinking water with dangerous gases and chemicals, which is clearly of serious concern in terms of public health and safety. Scientific research at Duke University, published in the Environmental Science and Technologyjournal, revealed clear evidence of direct water contamination from the oil used in hydraulic fracking, describing the problem as widespread and persistent. The Associated Press reported last year that the data from leading oil and gas producing states in America showed that more than 175 million gallons of contaminated wastewater was spilled from 2009 to 2014 in incidents involving ruptured pipes, overflowing storage tanks and other mishaps, in some cases even the deliberate dumping of waste.There were some 21,000 individual spills and, given it is suspected these numbers are underestimated, the scale of the problem is enormous.

The contaminated wastewater kills nearly all vegetation it touches and renders crops and farmland unusable. Given our sensitivity to flooding in the last few years and the increasing magnitude of the floods due to climate change, it would be ludicrous to expose aquifers and water tables to such dangerous contamination that could even cause further damage. Can we even imagine the damage that would be caused, not just to vegetation and livestock, but also to water supplies and towns and villages throughout the countryside? Any short-term profits from gas extraction would be dwarfed by the environmental clean-up costs and cost of dealing with the contamination of water.

To continue to advocate for such a destructive practice is Donald Trump economics or Tea Party economic development. Our party wants to grow the number of sustainable, long-term jobs, and I know Deputy McLoughlin is very concerned about that. The jobs in tourism and agriculture have been and will be there. We want to hold and increase the number of such jobs, and diversify out into other areas of sustainable development. We cannot allow short-term thinking and short-term gain to interrupt that.

We have an opportunity to put this issue to bed once and for all. I welcome the fact that the Government has withdrawn its amendment. It is good that it has happened. It is partly attributable to people's conscience and also the fact that there are many campaigners, some of whom are in the Visitors Gallery, who have campaigned against fracking, raised the issue and educated the public thereon. It is timely this evening, given the ratification of the Paris Agreement, to give a positive indication that we are beginning to move away from fossil fuels by banning the fracking process entirely. It is imperative that we reduce our dependence on fossil fuel.

As I stated, the evidence is well documented. We do not want to be kicking the can down the road. The Government has done a lot of that. We do not want to see it happen on this occasion so it is timely that we start taking the courageous steps and stand up for the interests of the public, environment and generations to come. We have the opportunity and need to do so immediately. The Bill has to go to the committee for scrutiny, as outlined by the Ceann Comhairle. For my part as Sinn Féin spokesperson on this matter and as a member of the committee, I will certainly be working with the other committee members to accelerate the process as quickly as possible. I urge the Government not to use this as a delaying process. We need to move on with this. There is no reason to delay and every reason to put down a marker and move ahead with all speed to protect our environment, sustainable jobs and our water sources.

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