Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Today I am forced to raise again our concerns about the Government’s 925-page Planning and Development Bill. It should be receiving adequate consideration tonight but we know it will not because the Government is giving us just three hours to consider 177 pages of amendments to this extremely significant legislation. These are amendments we have never had the opportunity to consider in the Dáil.

This developer-led Bill will cause real and lasting damage to our already sub-par planning system. If it is passed as it is, it will actually delay the delivery of homes and transport infrastructure and will risk our energy security. It will remove democracy from aspects of planning and concentrate power in the hands of the Minister. Three hours will not be enough time to tackle these and other flaws, nor will three minutes be enough, which is what I have now.

Instead I want to raise just one issue - something Hollywood's Mark Ruffalo has been campaigning on for years. His issue with what I might call this hulking piece of legislation is the group of new amendments on the importation of liquified natural gas, LNG. This is a domestic issue for us but it is of concern internationally and to Mr. Ruffalo because he is from Pennsylvania in the US, where fracking-sourced LNG terminals have been linked to asthma, rare childhood cancers and adverse birth outcomes. Here at home, the Government is trying to designate floating terminals as strategic infrastructure so that LNG can be imported into Ireland, circumventing normal planning processes.

We know LNG is a dirty fuel. It will increase our emissions and it is harmful to health. The cost of a new LNG facility would be added to people's gas bills at a time when households already struggle to make ends meet. Even if this goes ahead, a new terminal will not be ready for years to come. By the time we would have one built, we would already have greatly increased renewable energy capacity in place, so this is not even a question of energy security. This is about embedding harmful fuels long term into our energy system against all the evidence.

The Government has insisted that existing policy amounts to an LNG moratorium. That argument has never held water, especially not since last week's High Court decision that there is no way of enforcing the moratorium so there is no ban. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has said he does not think commercial LNG terminals will be installed in Ireland. Respectfully, we do not legislate based on a vibe or a ministerial whim. I am quite frankly shocked at this approach by the Minister with responsibility for climate action. Green Party TDs are sitting across on Government benches now. I am the first person on this side of the House to acknowledge the progress on climate action that has been made due to their presence in government. As a lifelong environmentalist, I welcome that, but that is why I am so concerned to see that they might at the eleventh hour be on the verge of undoing that work. This is not just a problem for the Green Party; it is a problem for all of us.

Will the Government withdraw support for these dangerous LNG amendments and support the Labour Party amendments instead? Will it act on the High Court decision and introduce a cast-iron ban on LNG? Finally, does it accept that three hours is just not long enough to consider this vitally important Bill and these hugely significant new amendments?

See this speech in context