Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that these amendments will not be accepted. I do not understand why we cannot legislate for a ban. It seems like a risky strategy to introduce policy and hope that An Bord Pleanála will adhere to it. The Minister has said in the past that he would be surprised if An Bord Pleanála were to allow planning.Why not use the powers available to him as a Minister to eliminate the possibility of a surprise by legislating for a ban? The people at Safety Before LNG have raised important issues. They revealed that the planning application for the LNG terminal to import fracked gas has been made under section 37 of the Planning and Development Act. Under that section, there is no obligation for An Bord Pleanála to consider Government policy. It needs only have regard to Government policies. If an order to comply under section 29(1) was given, An Bord Pleanála shall comply as long as the order is given before the planning application is lodged. The Minister should not leave the decision to chance when there are options available to make an airtight decision against Shannon LNG using section 29(1) or, better yet, accept our amendment and legislate for a ban.