Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There has been some debate in this House recently on the proposed liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal at Shannon, which would use fracked gas imported from the US. I want to talk about the proposed LNG facility which would store imported fracked gas from the US at Cork Harbour. The US-based company Next Decade wants to import the fracked gas, and signed a memorandum of understanding on this with the Port of Cork in 2017. Next Decade plans to frack gas at the Rio Grande in south Texas near the Mexican border from 2023 onward, liquefy it and export it to Cork through the Texas port of Brownsville. Earlier this month, a Sunday newspaper reported that Next Decade intends to submit a planning application before the end of this year.

Millions of people have marched to demand action on climate change, and this Friday, school students will strike again. Only yesterday, the UN's annual report on climate change found no sign that carbon emissions will peak soon. The Government, under pressure, agreed to ban fracking in Ireland. Will it now allow fracked gas in through the back door? Fracking is more harmful for the climate than the burning of coal. The methane emitted from fracking is second only to carbon in the damage it does to our environment. Yet, the Government has not closed the door on using fracked gas at Shannon or Cork. The Taoiseach even held that door open when he said that fracked gas could be part of the answer to Ireland's energy security needs. The Taoiseach knows that if these projects go ahead, the State will be locked into the use of fossil fuels for another 40 years. He also knows that substantial use of fossil fuels in the EU's energy system for even another 15 years is incompatible with the commitments given under the Paris Agreement. The Government faces one way on peat but seems to face another way on fracked gas. Why is that? Why does the Government not state clearly that fracked gas will not be allowed to be part of the Irish State's energy mix?

Have the Taoiseach, the Government, any Ministers or Government Departments been lobbied on this issue by Next Decade, the Port of Cork, or any of the corporate entities involved in the Shannon project? Have any conversations or correspondence taken place between the Taoiseach, the Government, any Ministers or Government Departments and either the US Chamber of Commerce or the US Embassy on this issue?

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