Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to deal with the issue of financing. If we are to have climate action, there is the climate action fund. The Minister has stated previously that it is the intention of the Government to use the reserves from them National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, and that if there is any surplus within that reserve, it would be used for the purposes of the actions contained within the climate action plan. Is it the case that the reserves can be used now or does it require a change of legislation? I understand the Minister may have made a statement in this regard previously but I do not have access to that. It would be useful to understand from the Minister what his intention is regarding the use of NORA. If we are to talk about creating a fund and utilising NORA, it would be useful to know the legal position. My understanding, and I stand open to correction, is that if it is intended to repurpose the NORA surplus reserves in any way at this point, that could be deemed to be unlawful. It would be useful to have a clarification from the Minister on that.

The second issue is one in respect of which we have received many emails in the past 24 hours, namely, the LNG terminal. The Minister will be aware that among the concerns raised in regard to the proposal to designate the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal as an EU project of common interest is the prospect of fracked gas being imported from the United States. No doubt the scheduled hearings before the joint committee will provide an opportunity to consider the controversial aspects of the fracking process and whether gas extracted in this way should be introduced into the Irish and European energy mix.

I would like the Minister to outline the position in law as regards such a facility. As I understand it, the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Prohibition of Onshore Hydraulic Fracking) Act 2017 introduced the fracking ban by inserting into the principle Act - that is, the 1960 Act - a new Chapter IIA dealing with hydraulic fracturing. The core provision of the new section 5B, under Chapter IIA, provided, "It shall not be lawful for a person to search for, get, raise, take, carry away or work petroleum by means of hydraulic fracturing." We find the relevant definitions in section 2(1) of the 1960 Act. That section includes the following definition: ""Working" when used in relation to petroleum, includes digging, searching for, boring for, getting, raising, taking, carrying away, storing ["storing" being the key word] and treating petroleum, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly." It seems, therefore, that to "work" petroleum encompasses its storage and that, according to at least one interpretation of section 5B, it is unlawful not only to search for or extract natural gas by fracking but also to store fracked gas in the State. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm to me whether it is his view that, without a change in the law, an LPG terminal could be used for the storage of imported gas that has been extracted by way of hydraulic fracturing elsewhere in the world.

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