Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the people in the Visitors Gallery, many of whom fought for many years and who made politicians aware of the dangers of fracking. It was those people who educated me when I went to meetings in Carrick-on-Shannon and other parts of the region in terms of the possible dangers of fracking. Once I engaged with them and followed it up, I could see the devastation that fracking has caused in many parts of the world.

I was mayor of Roscommon County Council in 2011-12. It was the first county in Ireland to propose that fracking would not come to our county because it would affect north Roscommon, which is now a big tourism area. We are building on tourism and that is what we want to do. We have to be very strong about this. I acknowledge the role of Deputy McLoughlin, who pushed this issue continuously. We all got behind him to support him because we saw the danger that was coming.

We do not need fracking in Ireland. Fracking is not suitable for a small island country, dotted with lakes and rivers, hills and valleys. It would be a disaster for this country. I am glad there is support for the Bill right around this Chamber and that we are all at one on it. It is something I am determined we must keep out of Ireland. We do not have the vast areas of land where this can be developed and it would be a huge mistake to allow fracking. While I have great respect for Deputy O'Dowd, I cannot agree with him with regard to fracking.

I agree we have to address the issues of wind energy and solar energy. I have had to deal with this on my own doorstep and have paid a heavy price at times because I have tried to get a balance. The Government needs to put legislation in place in regard to wind farms because that will solve the issue. It also needs to do this in regard to solar power. No planning is being granted for solar at the moment and An Bord Pleanála will not pass planning requests on the basis that there is no legislation. The Government is falling behind on this issue.

We have a brilliant tourism product that we can develop in our locality - in Roscommon, Leitrim, the midlands and the west. That is where we want the money spent and what we want to develop. I have a good message for Deputy Eamon Ryan. Many of the smaller farmers come to me to say they know about climate change - while they may not want to say it publicly, they know it is a reality.

Masses of young people from rural and urban areas believe climate change is an issue. I come from a rural farming background and I accept that climate change is an issue. However, we need a balance and we need to understand that farmers and those in rural areas need to survive. By working closely together we can ensure that everybody's situation is taken into account.

It is not the small or medium-sized farmers who are causing a problem with climate change. They also need to be protected to a degree. Looking back over the years, the greatest custodians of our environment were the small or medium-sized farmers. They love nature and they protected nature. It is very important that we acknowledge that in anything we do.

I have had discussions with people involved in wind energy and have had discussions with Coillte. Deputy O'Dowd is right in saying we need to include communities more. Government should develop regulations so that when a wind farm is developed, one turbine should be given over for the use of the community within a 5 km or 10 km area so that they have free electricity. We need to engage with those people and include them. If we develop solar and wind energy, we do not need fracking in our back gardens, and we do not want it.

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