Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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I move:

That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the amendment of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in order to restrict developments in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure and to remove LNG infrastructure from listing as strategic development infrastructure projects.

I want to introduce this Bill today by quoting the Tánaiste in his speech in this House last week. He said: "Even if it was not for the climate crisis, for economic and security reasons, we need to wean ourselves off our dependence on fossil fuels." The position outlined last week in this House is meaningful and it is hopeful, because for once and at last, it places our communities, our children and our grandchildren at the forefront of policymaking in energy in this country. It sets out our plan for energy security.

The LNG free Bill, which I have tabled today, was developed by the grassroots organisation Not Here Not Anywhere - who are here today and to which I am incredibly thankful - and it is sponsored by me. It seeks to support the Government's agreed position, as outlined in the programme for Government. This Bill is also supported by 30 national and international organisations. It is to keep Ireland free of liquefied natural gas and to strike out towards a future based on energy sustainability and security, a future that will deliver us from the clutches of profiteers and despots who would happily allow this world to burn for the sake of a few more dollars. This Government will not and cannot allow that to happen.

These have been a challenging two years for all of us. Just when we began to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, inflation has skyrocketed, particularly in energy costs. This is placing households in Ireland under terrible and sustained pressure. No one should have to decide between heat or food. It is our generation that will decide the pathway forward. The pathway for which I advocate, and which this Bill serves, is one where communities can produce their own energy. They own it. They benefit from it. It provides jobs to their communities. It uses local natural resources, without destroying those resources or the landscape around them. That is an attainable vision for energy in this country. It includes wind, solar and perhaps wave energy. It must include an integrated European grid. Given our geographical riches and demographics in Ireland, Ireland has a better chance than almost any country on this planet of being entirely energy independent. That will be mostly due to renewables. We are the country that could achieve this.

The other path to take would be the LNG path. The impacts of that were outlined in detail this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report, which issued a stark warning on just how close we are to devastation as a result of climate change. Building large-scale LNG infrastructure in Ireland at this point will lock us into fossil fuel-use for decades to come. It is an even worse path than that, because it is a polluted path. It is a dangerous and dirty industry. It is huge in the space that it requires but it is minuscule in the provision of employment.

The oppressive threat of environmental degradation and safety issues looms not just for those who suffer as their communities are ravaged by fracking and shale gas extraction in places like the US and Qatar, but for communities here in Ireland, where LNG terminals are to be built, as huge polluting tankers hover on the horizon and a meagre cohort of workers tend to often-empty storage facilities.

LNG did not protect France or Germany from price surges this year. It did not protect their communities from inflation.

It did not protect communities in other countries from fuel poverty, even when it polluted them. LNG is a plaything of private investors, and for this we will turn away from a truly fossil-free future. We will give up our opportunity over the coming decades for an energy security that is genuinely ours. The past two weeks has shown us how truly powerful the reliance on gas can be and how it can shape geopolitics. If we are committed to peace and to standing for democracy, we can no longer blindly bind ourselves through energy dependence to other nations, especially when we now have options. We can no longer place the future of our communities, their employment, their prosperity, their very environment and their water and air quality in the hands of other nations or, in particular, in the hands of private investors and interests. The future should belong to us, to Irish communities, and it is for us to safeguard it for those who come after us. There is no place for LNG in Ireland. We do not need it.

I commend the Bill to the House.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Is the Bill opposed?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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No.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Members' time.

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."