Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Only a few weeks ago, the Chamber was full of school students who were invited in to explore what could be done about climate change. One of the ten recommendations that came out of that experiment was not to allow the importation of fracked gas and to oppose the Shannon and Cork LNG projects. Tomorrow, the same students will take another day of strike action, and at approximately 12 noon they will be on Merrion Square. I intend to join them and I wonder whether the Minister can tell them with a straight face what he just stated to me, or support their demand to end the importation of North American fracked gas.

I listened to the Minister's response, in which he paid no attention to the two reports published this week that suggest we may have crossed the tipping points and thresholds that will lock us into catastrophic climate change because emissions are soaring all the time. Without allowing the climate emergency measures Bill to go forward or banning LNG projects, we will be certain to have done nothing. Although the Minister denies we have anything to do with LNG facilities and that they are private, we facilitated the fast-track planning and building of the projects in Cork and at Shannon, and have allowed for their inclusion on the list of European projects of common interest. It is not as though his hands are clean and he has nothing to do it.

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