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Irish Independent

Leitrim activists join rally at the Dáil against LNG terminal plans

Climate activists from the Stop Shannon LNG Coalition including Love Leitrim, Extinction Rebellion, Slí Eile, and other groups gathered outside the Dáil to express concern that the government is planning Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure in Ireland. The activists strongly oppose such infrastructure because of its negative impact on the climate, public health, and the cost of living. The activists are concerned that when gas is fracked, not all of it is captured, so some of it escapes into the atmosphere, further contributing to climate change. The activists held a 14 metre-wide banner reading 'STOP SHANNON LNG,' referring to a proposed LNG terminal. Leitrim County Councillor Eddie Mitchell from Love Leitrim said the global warming impact of importing fracked gas into Ireland outweighs all our efforts to reduce our annual emissions. 'After acknowledging in 2021 that a LNG terminal would inevitably import fracked gas, the government is now walking away from its obligations to mitigate climate change by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. "While the government struggles and fails to reduce emissions by a target of 8% a year, even just considering fracked gas imports associated with boil off would incur 3.75% of Ireland's total emissions if we were only to use the LNG terminal as a storage unit. "Those are the emissions associated with spending €900 million on a terminal that won't be used. In the real world the emissions will be so much greater,' said Mr Mitchell. According to the campaigners, since late 2023, the government has planned to support LNG import infrastructure and in March this year, that plan was updated to explicitly allow the import of fracked gas. New Fortress Energy is seeking to build their LNG terminal and 600MW gas power plant at Ballylongford in county Kerry, on the Shannon Estuary. The power plant has already received planning permission, and An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála) is currently reviewing the reactivated planning application for the LNG terminal. In June, An Comisiún Pleanála asked the government to clarify its position on privately owned LNG terminals. The government has not yet clarified its position. Mr Mitchell called on the Minister Darragh O'Brien to clarify policy before August 7. "He must reinstate the ban on all LNG terminals so that planning permission can be refused again, or acknowledge that continuing down the road of facilitating fracked gas requires us to admit failure on environmental policy. "All of us from Leitrim, Fermanagh, Clare, Kerry and Limerick who live on shale gas basins will not allow our country to be a market for fracked US gas,' said Mr Mitchell. Labour Party Spokesperson on Rural and Community Development, the Gaeltacht and Worker's Rights, Senator Nessa Cosgrove reiterated her support for a number of community-based Environmental groups, including Love Leitrim, who oppose the introduction of Fracked Gas into the Irish energy mix. Senator Cosgrove said, 'LNG is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel, which is often extracted through the environmentally-damaging technique of fracking 'If the Government allows the current planning application for Shannon LNG to be granted it will blow a massive hole in Ireland's chances of meeting our legally-binding climate targets. 'The Government have claimed that they are interested only in a Government-led LNG storage facility for an emergency supply, not in commercial exploitation of this gas. 'If there is a shred of truth to this claim, there is no need to lift the moratorium on granting planning permission for privately-owned LNG Infrastructure. 'I am calling on Darragh O'Brien, as the Minister for Energy and Environment to reiterate that the Government's position is that no privately-owned LNG infrastructure is to be permitted within the State, so that An Bord Pleanalla can make the correct judgement, which remains to refuse planning permission for this unnecessary and harmful development,' said Senator Cosgrove.