Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is admitting that by buying fracked gas from America, we are going to a dirtier fuel now. There has been a myth about gas as well. I have looked at the Minister's responses over recent months. It has been said that we are following EU guidelines. As far as we are concerned, the unelected EU Commission is in the hands of the fossil fuel industry. The carbon dioxide emissions from gas are far less than those from coal and diesel, but the methane element is disastrous. Cornell University has pointed out that "Earth's climate system responds too slowly to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, and warming to 2°C and higher will occur within the next 35 years unless methane emissions are reduced below current levels". The Shannon facility will lock us into something that is not positive in the context of where we should be going as we seek to deal with the challenges of climate change. This is not a way forward. The Minister of State is arguing that we will have no security without this facility. Rather than pursuing a dirtier fuel using fracked gas from America, we would be better off staying better friends with the Americans to bring us to a point where we will be using more renewables.

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