Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I, too, acknowledge the work of Deputy Tony McLoughlin and his team on the Bill. I also acknowledge the huge work being done by communities throughout this country in putting this issue on the agenda. Sinn Féin is opposed to fracking on the entire island of Ireland. We also stand with communities that have real concerns about the impact upon their environment as a result of exploratory drilling and full shale gas extraction. Therefore, I welcome this Bill and its provisions which will see a total ban on onshore fracking in this State.

I have personal experience in my own area of how people are ignored, mistreated and disregarded when it comes to safety fears around onshore and offshore gas exploration. Although fracking was not involved in the case of Shell at the Ballinaboy site, the treatment of local people who expressed concerns was appalling. Let no one be under any illusion. There are no benefits to allowing fracking in this country. We see that in terms of the Corrib gas project. I live beside it. We have unemployment of more than 30% in the area while billions of euro worth of our natural resources are taken out of it by private companies. We have not one red cent from it. We still have huge levels of emigration. People cannot get a job and the first people to be laid off the project were local people. Let no one be under any illusion. This is why I urge communities and counties to stick together and to stand together on this issue.

I welcome the Bill's passage through the Dáil and the all-party support that ensured this was the case. Sinn Féin also wants to impose a ban on offshore fracking and, therefore, to have our entire State fracking-free. Further work is needed to form more legally sound legislation, which unfortunately is outside the realm of this Bill. We hope to achieve it in a future Bill that we are currently working on. In the Dáil we withdrew our amendment regarding a ban on offshore fracking as we believe that it will require separate and more extensive legal change to ban offshore fracking. We want to create a legally firm ban on offshore fracking which will withstand the attempts of major vested interests to challenge it in the courts. Any simple one word amendment at this point will have the appearance of action and the reality of a legal challenge. We recognise that offshore exploration is a very different geological and engineering operation to that of onshore fracking. As we know, exploration is currently taking place off our shores. We tried to cater for this within the confines of this Bill but providing for these complex geological and engineering processes in legislation needs more extensive drafting. Technology around fracking is changing constantly. We need to ensure that legislation is drafted to encompass these changes.

Despite our concerns around offshore fracking, Sinn Féin sees the bigger picture with regard to today's Bill. We do not want to slow the progress of this Bill. We do not want to provide any fuel to any possible vested interests who oppose this Bill. Put simply, we do not want to see any possible delay to this Bill. As we know, it is vital that onshore fracking is outlawed completely and as soon as possible. The offshore fracking process is used occasionally on a very small scale to facilitate more conventional oil and gas drilling. This is happening at present. We are concerned here with a growing offshore fracking industry used to extract gas, as seen in the US. One large-scale operation exists at present but there is further drilling in place.

Water flowing back from fracked wells is cleaned up on large platforms near the well by filtering out oil and other contaminants. The treated wastewater is then dumped overboard into the vast expanse of the ocean. Dilution then supposedly renders it harmless, at least according to the companies. A treatment process is regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency but in California critics led by the Environmental Defence Centre have asked federal regulators to ban the practice off the west coast until more is known about its effects. We need to know the environmental implications of this type of offshore exploration on our environment. There is no legislation in place to prevent offshore fracking. Exploration can happen now and exploration companies will have free rein in operating in our oceans.

With the present Bill, we hope that this will progress as quickly as possible. We need this law in place. We simply need to outlaw what would be harmful to both the environment and people directly living in the areas affected. Sinn Féin supports this Bill and is clear and resolute about keeping Ireland, North and South, fracking-free. We hope this Bill will be enacted as soon as possible.