Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the members of Love Leitrim, Friends of the Earth, the Good Energies Alliance Ireland and all the people who put serious work into an issue about which they were very fearful. People power set this train in motion. I thank Deputy Tony McLoughlin for all the work done by him and his staff. People speak about new politics and it is a good news story that a Bill could be introduced early last June and a year later it has gone through all Stages in the Dáil and Seanad. I look forward to this Bill being brought to the President of Ireland in the coming days for him to sign. It is real and good politics, with people from all sides of the political divide coming together and doing something that is right and proper.

I remember four or five years ago we introduced the visitors to the then Minister, former Deputy Pat Rabbitte, and he would have given them a fair hearing to outline fears about pollution risks to water and the atmosphere and the contribution to climate change. This Bill ensures the prohibition of any exploration or extraction of petroleum from rock that requires additional processes to increase the permeability of the rock and aid the extraction of petroleum from lithologies, shale rock, tight sands and coal seams. I went to an open forum where the film from the United States was shown and I was horrified to see people lighting water where fracking caused awful consequences. There is fluid or waste in the extraction process and the Bill would deal with such matters. This Bill will ensure fracking will not occur in lovely Leitrim, Cavan, Fermanagh and Sligo. I congratulate everybody who has been involved and this is a good news story for politics and the people of the area.