Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan has said that the sooner the new Planning Bill is enacted the better.
Mr Ryan told RTÉ radio’s News at One that there was no “fast track” element to the Bill in relation to any gas infrastructure.
The key question was if the country could advance renewable energy, battery storage and interconnection systems so that there would not be any need for gas.
The situation was complicated, he said, and “sometimes you have to live with the complications, and energy security is a complicated issue.”
Mr Ryan said “we're not in favour of commercial LNG facilities. We do have to look at the security issues around having a storage system and be open to whatever the best way of doing that is.
“Sometimes those complications come because technology changes.”
The Green Party was “quite united” in what they needed to do with regard to the Planning Bill, having discussed it at their own policy Council meeting last weekend.
“My sense is the focus is now, particularly in the next coming weeks, we have a lot to deliver in government, particularly as government comes towards an end.
"We need to do that effectively. So I'm looking to go to Cabinet in the coming weeks with a whole suite of different measures that keep delivering what we've been doing in the last four years”
However, this did not mean an election was imminent, he said. There was “other stuff” he wanted to see completed.
The length of time projects ended up in the planning system needed to be shortened which was why the Planning Bill needed to be enacted as soon as possible, he said.
Mark Ruffalo
His response comes as the chief executive of Friends of the Earth, Oisin Coughlan, warned the Green Party’s legacy in government is in danger of being tarnished if they vote in favour of the Planning Bill before the Dáil this evening.
Mr Coughlan told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that he would feel “really let down” if the Green Party was to “leave the door open to LNG on their way out the door. That would not be a good legacy.”
All the Green Party’s “good words” on the phasing out of fossil fuel would be undermined by the Planning Bill and the recent High Court judgement, he added.
Mr Coughlan was responding to an appeal from US actor and activist Mark Ruffalo on social media for the public to sign a petition calling on the Green Party to “stop LNG”.
In the post Mr Ruffalo said: “Hey, I need your help. You know, the Irish green party's about to do something really terrible to the environment and our climate. They're trying to jam through a bill to fast track building liquid natural gas terminals that would import fracked gas from the United States and I need you to help me tell the Irish people all about it.
“They need to remove the LNG fast tracking and prioritisation as a strategic infrastructure from the Planning Bill and permanently just ban LNG.
“What's worse is that the Green Party, which promised the voters that they would stop the import of frack gas and LNG when they joined the coalition government in 2020, but since then, they've been opening the door for the Irish government to build an LNG terminal in the Shannon estuary of all places.”
Mr Coughlan said that government policy was “really confused.”
“The Greens went into government saying they would stand firmly against the importation of fracked gas and they have made some progress in that with their other government coalition partners. But this Bill tonight seems set to undermine that significantly and risks putting their legacy and government in grave risk and in tatters.”
When asked if Friends of the Earth would be urging the Green Party to vote against the Planning Bill, Mr Coughlan said they would be calling on all parties “to vote against LNG tonight.”
Mr Coughlan also pointed out that “the company that has currently applied to build a terminal on the Shannon Estuary, Shannon LNG is controlled by New Fortress Energy, one of the biggest exporters and producers of fracked gas in Pennsylvania, which is why Mark Ruffalo is interested.
"And they want to export gas as much as they can and to drive as much use of gas as possible with the gas that is fuelling those hurricanes in Florida that we're hearing about.
“We're asking all TDs at the very least to strip out all reference to LNG here.”
