Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has moved to clarify his position on the construction of a commercial liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, saying such a facility would expand Ireland’s use of gas, contrary to legally-binding climate targets.
The clarification from the Minister for the Environment follows the publication of an open letter signed by more than 150 community groups, academics, environmental campaigners and politicians — including the recently sanctioned Green TD Neasa Hourigan — calling on Mr Ryan to restate his commitment to a ban on fracked gas imports.
The signatories — who also include Labour leader Ivana Bacik, People Before Profit TDs Bríd Smith and Paul Murphy and Sinn Féin TD Máiread Farrell — express “deep concern” about recent comments by the Minister which suggest “Green Party policy banning fracked gas may be reversed”. They called on him to confirm that this is not the case.
Internal rift
Senior Green Party figures recently warned that any change in the leadership’s stance on construction of an LNG terminal would cause a damaging internal rift. They were reacting to Mr Ryan telling the Sunday Business Post that “the world changed” when the Nord Stream gas pipelines were blown up last year, which heightened concerns about energy security, particularly gas supplies.
The open letter, also signed by charities Trócaire and Christian Aid Ireland, the Irish Wildlife Trust, academics and US anti-fracking groups, states: “In light of the Sunday Business Post article, we call on you to confirm publicly and without delay that you will honour the commitment you made to the Irish electorate — to implement a policy of banning fracked gas imports via any LNG terminals in Ireland.”
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In response to the letter, a spokesman for Mr Ryan said one focus of the energy security review under way was the issue of backup storage in the event of a disruption to Ireland’s gas supply from the UK.
He said that any measures proposed in the review to increase energy security also had to comply with “our legally binding climate targets and avoid locking us into long-term fossil fuel infrastructure or allowing the use of fracked gas. Minister Ryan does not believe that a commercial LNG facility would meet these criteria as it would only expand our use of gas and make us more reliant on such imports. A commercial facility would also be focused on supplying private customers rather than providing backup storage and security for the Irish people which is the strategic objective of the review.”
Climate breakdown
Environmental scientist Dr Laura Kehoe, one of the signatories of the open letter, said “the scientific and moral case are crystal clear. Shannon LNG must be stopped. To even consider new fossil fuel infrastructure in the age of climate breakdown is the height of absurdity.”
The letter was organised by campaign groups Love Leitrim, Futureproof Clare and Safety Before LNG. They say that a policy opposing fracked gas terminals had been “a red line issue” for the Green Party in Government formation negotiations with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Leitrim Irish Farmers’ Association, another signatory, said the county’s farmers had worked hard to bring about a ban on fracking and “understand the threat importing fracked gas brings to both our own farm families and to affected communities in the United States”.
