Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the passage of the Bill through Report Stage. The Bill is a statement for sustainable development and common sense. I commend the campaign groups, Deputy McLoughlin and our councillors. For the past six years the Sinn Féin councillors in Sligo and Leitrim made sure that this was kept on top of the agenda. The former Deputy, Michael Colreavy, and Deputy Martin Kenny also supported this. I recognise the work of people at local level. When campaigning on an issue like this, it can often seem like fighting a lost cause. People stuck at it and did the research to come up with the facts and figures in order to point out the disastrous consequences of fracking in the United States - the waste ground left behind and the damage to water etc.

Sinn Féin had a similar Bill ready to go. We were a few days away from pressing the button and introducing it. When Deputy McLoughlin introduced his Bill, it made common sense to withdraw our Bill and get behind his Bill.

This is a victory for "long-termism" and sustainable development, and will stop "short-termism". This country has made many decisions that were about short-termism and we did not think of the long-term consequences.

We have a very good thriving farming industry in Sligo and Leitrim even though much of the land there is marginal. We have an excellent tourism industry there that needs to be developed further.

I remember the previous EPA report coming before the committee. I say this to Deputies across the House and to the officials. We need to be careful of what consultants put before us here and in council chambers. In my time as an elected representative I have seen all types of dodgy reports being thrown up by consultants and being brought before the EPA, councillors and this House. We need to be careful about who is drawing them up.

Let me be clear in stating our opposition to offshore fracking. The task today is to ensure that we ban onshore fracking within the 26 counties of this State. We withdrew our amendment in the interests of getting that through quickly.

People say this is a Bill against fracking; it is a Bill for sustainability and a victory for common sense. I commend everybody involved. In the Seanad Sinn Féin will do everything it can to ensure it moves through quickly to get it enacted and signed by Uachtarán na hÉireann.

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