The fight to keep Ireland LNG free continues

It was a dark day for democracy yesterday.

The Government only allowed two hours of debate each to two major pieces of legislation in the Dáil, and rammed them through all stages of the Dáil before the summer recess. Both the Bills, the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Bill, which will result in a €900m polluting gas terminal in Clare, and the the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill, which will lift the Dublin Airport’s passenger cap, were passed.

The Government’s decision to guillotine both these Bills represents an extraordinary attempt to avoid proper parliamentary scrutiny of legislation that will lock Ireland into higher emissions for decades and see us renege on our climate obligations. Our Government is undermining democracy.

At a time when the Government should be pulling out all the stops to end our dependence on fossil fuels - the very reason why we're grappling with both high energy bills and extreme weather - they’re pushing for (new) dirty, expensive fossil fuel infrastructure through the LNG Bill. The Government cannot meaningfully examine legislation, involving almost €1 billion in public expenditure, major increases in emissions and significant health impacts for communities, in just two hours.

Now more than ever, we need to put up a fight and let the Government know that this cannot continue. They cannot disregard democracy and our legally binding climate obligations. They cannot prioritise polluters over people.

That’s why it’s great to see the opposition parties uniting to oppose the LNG Bill. In a joint statement today, Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly, Labour TD Ciarán Ahern, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy and Green Party TD Roderic O'Gorman, criticised the Government for guillotining the LNG Bill. Read their statement here.

At Friends of the Earth, we’ll continue this fight together with partners in the grassroots and civil society space.