Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Minister of State will be aware of our concerns on this side of the House with the Government's plans to overturn the previous Government's ban on the importation of fracked gas to facilitate the State-led strategic LNG reserve. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of the implications this will have for Shannon LNG and other commercial operators. It is opening the door, inadvertently or otherwise, to massive commercial importation of fracked gas. The Minister of State can make all the claims he wants about commitment to climate action, but importing this highly polluting fossil fuel at this time in our climate struggle and building new fossil fuel infrastructure really calls that commitment in question. I am glad to hear that the Government has not made any new commitments, but what are we going to do in other areas to make up for the inevitable increase in emissions from recent decisions the Government has made, including now the importation of fracked gas? What will we do in other areas to mitigate that?

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