Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This amendment seeks to change the Title of the Bill to reflect the provisions of amendment No. 20, which relates to banning fracked gas imports. I welcome the opportunity to debate the ban on importing fracked gas. Sinn Féin tabled the same amendment in the Dáil but it was ruled out of order. We seem to be able to debate it in the Seanad. It is regrettable that the Minister did not accept this amendment. On Committee Stage in the Seanad, the debate was guillotined before we had a chance to debate the issue of fracked gas, so I welcome the chance to do so today. We have missed an important opportunity to debate the issue.

If the Minister were serious about banning fracked gas, he would legislate for it. Instead, we have a policy statement that stops short of banning it. It is not clear why the Minister will not do it. We have been met with a wall of excuses that just do not stand up to scrutiny. The liquefied natural gas, LNG, policy statement presented the usual approach. The Attorney General says we cannot do it because of what is stated in EU treaties and so on. We do not agree with this response. We have it on good authority from the EU library and research service that nothing in the treaties prevents a member state from banning fracked gas. On the contrary, there are explicit rights for member states to introduce a ban. Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union makes clear that it is fully in the gift of a member state to bring in a ban. It indicates that member states choose the conditions for exploiting their energy resources and which energy resources they allow. This does not affect a member state's right to determine the conditions for exploiting its energy resources, its choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply without prejudice to Article 192(2)(c). There are no legal barriers in EU law, so it begs the question, what is the real reason we cannot, and will not, legislate for a ban?