Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy McLoughlin for getting the Bill to this point. I have no doubt it will pass, hopefully unopposed, through the Final Stage. It is very much to his credit that we have got to this point. The Deputy and others will accept that the biggest victory here is the victory of people power in Leitrim and across the State. Communities and environmental campaigners took up the fight and made it impossible for the political parties in the House to ignore the arguments made by campaigners and the justice of their cause in insisting that onshore fracking is banned. It would pollute the water, endanger human health and contribute to further climate change. It would impact on tourism and our pristine landscape. There is simply no justification for it and it was people power that forced the political system to acknowledge that fact.

It is worth commenting on how far we have come in that regard. I remember when we discussed this issue at the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The Environmental Protection Agency was doing a report that, frankly, many of us felt was an absolute stitch-up. The two major consultants looking into the viability of fracking were both deeply linked with the oil and gas industry and the pro-fracking lobby. Incredibly, they did not even look into the health implications of fracking. That was where we were at. It is because of people power, pressure, persistence and determination by the environmental movement and by the communities who campaigned on this issue that we have got to this point. There is no doubt that it is a great victory. It is historic and it sets a precedent. We should be delighted that this is the case.

In conclusion, I must disagree with Deputy McLoughlin's points about the offshore fracking. There is no question that all of the arguments that apply to the dangers of onshore fracking apply equally to offshore fracking. That evidence is now piling in from the experience of offshore fracking in the United States of America. A 2014 report Troubled Waters says that, "At least 10 fracking chemicals routinely used offshore in California could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including sea otters [and] fish...". Leatherback sea turtles and elephant seals in California and so on are being affected because of the chemicals being used in their key habitats. The chemicals used have also been shown to cause cancer and to impact negatively on human health. All of these factors apply just as much to offshore fracking. I am deeply worried because I believe that some of the biggest reserves are likely to be found offshore and the door is still open to that. The door needs to be closed. There is the pressing and urgent need also to deal with runaway climate change and the threat this poses to humanity and to the entirety of the globe. I disagree with Deputy McLoughlin on that point and I believe we should have gone further.

That being said, it is a victory for people power. I do not know what I would say about the new politics that Deputy McLoughlin referred to, but it shows that the reduction in the dominance of the two or three major parties in the State has opened the door for change. It shows that parties from across the political spectrum can co-operate on the things they agree on and get results when, critically, working in conjunction with people from outside the House and allowing the voice of civil society really to influence our work. This to me is new politics. It is about listening to the voices outside and being messengers to the Dáil around the demands, campaigns, issues and the wisdom of those who are outside the Parliament and letting that impact on the work we do and the laws we pass. In that sense, it is a great victory, but there is a lot more to be done. We need to press on to ban offshore fracking and to other issues related to climate change and environmental destruction.

See this speech in context