Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am just making the point that I hope that everybody accepts that it is an independent body. Its decision should not be conflated with an earlier decision of the Government in respect of energy security, which is required. The legal opinion, by the way, to the previous Minister, which is on file in the Department, is such that, legally, it is not possible to prohibit fracked gas as to what comes in, including through the British gas pipelines that come into Ireland, from where we get most of our gas. It is not legally possible in terms of the source of various gases we import.

We import the vast majority and we then have the Corrib gas field. We have done no U-turn. In fact, in the previous Government, proposals had been prepared around a national gas security reserve. Why was this? It was because if anything happened to those pipelines, the Irish economy and society would be in deep trouble. It is as simple as that. I put the energy security question to the entire House. Are people suggesting we do not have any security at all or any backup?

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