Calls for Stormont to follow Dail's lead on banning fracking

Anti-fracking campaigners are calling on the Stormont Assembly to follow the lead of its counterparts across the border and ban the controversial practice.

The Stop the Drill campaign tweeted “You can do it!” to Northern Ireland’s party leaders after the bill was voted through the Dáil Éireann.

During a televised debate over the bill, a number of speakers argued that unconventional oil and gas operations have significant adverse effects.

"Fracking has no place in a low carbon future,” said Joe Carey, Fine Gael TD for County Clare.

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Catherine Connolly, Independent TD for Galway West, said the bill gives hope for the country's ability to act upon the emissions thresholds under the Paris climate agreement.

Timmy Dooley, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare, said: "We should not be looking for new methods to extract a resource so damaging to the climate."

The bill's passage is the first step in enforcing a nationwide ban on fracking, giving the Irish Government 12 weeks before it goes before further parliamentary scrutiny. It has now been moved to the committee stage for further review.

Fracking does not currently take place in Ireland but three exploratory licenses have been granted.

The bill, The Prohibition of the Exploration and Extraction of Onshore Petroleum Bill, was introduced by Dáil member Tony McLoughlin, TD of the Fine Gael party. He currently represents Sligo-Leitrim, a constituency that has been earmarked for potential shale gas exploration in a cross-border project proposed by Tamboran.

The TD for Sligo Leitrim sought to ban energy companies from using high-pressure water and other additives to extract raw fuels from rocks, sands and coal seams.

Mr McLoughlin's legislation had been accepted by Government but it attempted to add a clause to stop it from further parliamentary scrutiny until after June 30 next year, potentially delaying an outright ban until 2018.

The proposed eight-month delay was aimed at allowing Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency to issue a report on fracking, but the Government ultimately decided not to table the proposal.

To coincide with the bill, the Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) published a report concluding that fracking and other shale-gas operations in Ireland could lead to harmful water contamination and therefore should not be permitted.

"Our research shows that over the past decade there have been many documented impacts to water bodies arising from shale-gas activities," said one of the report's authors, Dr. Kieran Craven.

"Degradation of the water environment has occurred in regions of the U.S., where regulation has typically lagged behind industry. Based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, it is our view that many of these potential impacts would lead to the pollution of both surface and groundwater in the proposed regions of Ireland."

France, Bulgaria, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and parts of Austria have already banned fracking.