Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend Deputy Tony McLoughlin, who demonstrated an extraordinary positive initiative in bringing forward this Bill and building cross-party support. A positive aspect of new politics that we have seen is not just that quality proposals coming from the Opposition benches are more often beginning to be considered - we have some positive Opposition legislation moving through the House and becoming law - but also that some backbenchers within the Government have done the same. Senator Colm Burke in this House has put forward very constructive proposals for legislation. I commend the Deputy and it is important those proposals are being heard.

Others have mentioned Love Leitrim and Friends of the Earth. Afri, or Action From Ireland, has done extraordinary work. I also give credit to the wider movement that is asking the important questions around fossil fuels. We have seen movements for divestment from fossil fuels from the likes of Trócaire, Trinity College Dublin and National University of Ireland, Galway. We have seen a lead from many young people who understand that fossil fuels cannot be at the core of a future for them or any of us on this shared planet. I also want to note that the Bill sends out an important signal on the international level at a time when we have seen Europe having to step up and having to put substance behind its written commitments. Given the United States has pulled back from the Paris Agreement, it has really put it up to every country to say what they will do in a concrete way about meeting the Paris targets. We need to have a stepping up of ambition across the world on that. At a local level, this sends an important signal to local and rural communities that they are not going to be sacrificed to short-term energy interests or short-term lobbies but, rather, that they need to be part of the debate around a sustainable future and that their voices will be heard.

This is at the core of the amendment Senator Grace O'Sullivan is putting forward. Her amendment points towards where we need to go next. It refers to the management of land and waters, "for the benefit of the people of Ireland". There were other small amendments we could have put forward but we have not done so. It is important that we be clear that the definition of "land" should be that which is based on the European directives and that the definition of "waters" in the Bill should include groundwater. This amendment makes very clear that the land and the waters are to be managed for the benefit of the people of Ireland.

We know that Justin Keating in a previous generation faced up to the challenges of an Irish State seeking to establish financial and economic security and sustainability for its population and, at that time, it had a 50% tax on the product of oil exploration, with a 6% or 7% royalty. The challenge at that time was the fiscal, financial, economic and energy security of a new State as it moved forward. It was very unfortunate that those provisions were rolled back and removed. I would absolutely concur with Senator Conway-Walsh in regard to some of the ways offshore exploration has been managed with regard to Shell and others in Mayo, which has been of huge concern. The stakes are now much higher, however. We are not talking simply about economic and energy security in the long term for our State, but about environmental security and the global challenge of climate change. There is a huge responsibility on the State to ensure that we are paying attention to how our land and water are managed in order to ensure it is delivering on every level benefits for our citizens and also to ensure we do not move towards the catastrophic impact of climate change, which is happening already in many parts of the world.

While I know not all Members will be able to support the amendment today, I hope they will support this as the direction we need to move in. Ireland needs to follow on from France and other countries and say that the best way we, as a State and as legislators, can manage these resources for our citizens is by no longer issuing licences, offshore or onshore, for oil exploration until we have a meaningful strategy in place and until we have fully explored what we can do in terms of more sustainable and renewable resources.

There is one other key phrase in my colleague's amendment, where she refers to the "just transition". Again, that is where Love Leitrim and such local campaigning and its international aspects are vital in bringing together the idea that we would be placing communities, workers and citizens at the centre of the debate on how we build this. That, of course, applies to green technology as well, because we need to hold green technology to the same standards of environmental and social impact assessment, as well as consultation and engagement.

I encourage Members to consider supporting the amendment and, if they cannot support it today, to say they will support the spirit of the amendment. We will be bringing it back to this House. We will look to follow France, which has banned these forms of offshore harvesting.

I want to highlight another concern on which I had planned to put down an amendment. Recognising the urgency of the Bill, I have not done so, but I urge the Minister of State to engage with the Minister, Deputy Naughten, on this issue. It is a very serious concern that even at a time when we in Ireland are recognising the huge environmental dangers of fracking, such as the impact on our water and on our climate change targets, the Minister has nonetheless indicated he will continue to support the building of a liquid natural gas terminal at Shannon, which could lead to a situation where Ireland is importing and processing fracked liquid natural gas. This is an issue where we are in it together from the local to the national to the international level. Fracking which is happening anywhere is contributing to climate change. We in Ireland, as the next step, need to look at how we stop fracking in Ireland but also how we ensure we are not contributing to hydraulic fracturing anywhere in the world. We need to take the next step to ensure that no State moneys and none of the moneys in our institutions and colleges are being invested in this industry of hydraulic fracturing or, indeed, in any fossil fuels.

These are the next steps. If Ireland is going to go further than simply sending one very positive signal today, we need to show leadership as we have previously done. Afri was very involved in areas such as arms divestment and the banning of cluster munitions, where Ireland as a small nation led the way in taking a moral standpoint that got taken on in other parts of the world. I ask the Minister of State to go further than a one-day victory, although it is a very important victory for the people of Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway, the west coast and the other counties of Ireland, and that we make this a global moment. I again commend Deputy Tony McLoughlin for putting this forward and I endorse my colleague's amendment.