Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I promise not to talk for as long as Deputy Timmy Dooley.

My understanding of new politics is that anything for which Fianna Fáil is prepared to vote will be passed, which is great. I am delighted to hear Deputy Timmy Dooley say Fianna Fáil is to get real about climate change. I am looking forward to seeing that come about.

I commend Deputy Tony McLoughlin all those around the country who fought for this legislation. We have debated the reasons for it.

The point I want to address concerns the deniers of the effects offshore fracking may have. I refer to an article published on truth-out.orgwhich states that in late 2016, on the release of US federal records, it was discovered that "[f]rom 2010 to October 2014, the Obama administration approved more than 1,500 permit applications for offshore drilling plans that included fracking at hundreds of wells across the Gulf of Mexico ... An unknown number of permit applications have yet to be released, so the scope of offshore fracking in the Gulf is likely larger." In 2014 alone the industry was allowed to dump a staggering 76 billion gallons of waste fluid into the sea.

Let us get real. Offshore fracking is going to be hugely problematic. We did not just throw in the amendment. It was in the interests of protecting the health and safety of those living in coastal communities and wildlife in the oceans and in response to the urgent need to do something to tackle the advancement of climate change. Onshore fracking is a new practice and, according to the reporting, developing as a viable extraction method, the waste from which is routinely dumped straight into waters. It is unconscionable that the Government has approved any exploration licence in Irish waters in the past year. I hope to God, for the sake of people all over the planet and along the coast of Ireland, that those involved will not find anything.

Whatever happens to the Bill from here on, a ban on fracking may be challenged under the terms of the CETA, the vast majority of which will most likely be applied provisionally from 1 July. We have been assured by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Marhy Mitchell O'Connor, that there will be a vote on the CETA in the Dáil before it is fully ratified. Either way, even with provisional application, fracking comes under the terms of the agreement. The Minister has stated that in the course of the negotiations on the CETA substantive engagement took place sector by sector to identify Ireland's interests, but that is simply not the case. The CETA povides for a negative list system, whereby a country must explicitly name legislation and regulations to be excluded from the terms of the trade deal. The negative list has been used extensively by other EU countries. Germany, for example, submitted a 25-page list of individual pieces of legislation. Ireland only listed eight areas to be excluded, namely, flour milling, mining, the legal profession, veterinary services, maritime transport, executive employment services, privately funded social services and intercity bus services. This is a list of the professions and groups that thought to lobby the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

There has been no effort to safeguard the environment or the health of the public. Having our fracking ban attacked through the investor-court system by multinational oil and gas corporations is on the cards if CETA is ratified along with everything not on that pathetic list of eight exclusions. Even if CETA is not ratified, under provisional application a refusal to grant a fracking licence can qualify as a technical barrier to trade and end up being taken to the regulatory co-operation council. Pressure can be put on us to change our regulation in this area.

It is difficult to figure out if the Government could not give a damn about the environment or whether it is in the pockets of big business. The people who care about the environment and do not want fracking in Ireland should lobby their Deputies to ensure we do not ratify CETA.

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