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For Immediate Release
Press Release June 22nd 2020: 



Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says Shannon LNG can still build fracked gas import terminal "if they want to"

Taoiseach's word may have been a 'slip of the tongue' but clarity now needed

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar needs to clarify if there is a policy on no new LNG terminals in the Shannon Estuary, as per the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael lettter sent to the Green Party on April 28th, 2020.  That letter was the basis of Trust on which the Green Party went in to negotiations with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.  The Programme for Goverement can only succeed if all parties act in good faith. 

Last night, the Taoiseach stated 

"But I should say one factual thing though. What we have agreed to in relation to Shannon LNG is to remove it from what's called the Projects of Common Interest List. So it is not something that will receive government subsidies anymore. That doesn't mean it is removed from An Bord Pleanala. This is a private company and they can still go to An Bord Pleanala, still potentially get planning permission for it and still build it if they want to. But, it's just that it won't be a government-supported project anymore. We will be supporting something different, something better".

On  April 28th Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin sent a letter to Eamon Ryan where they stated:

“Both of our parties accept that as we move towards carbon neutrality, it does not make sense to build new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure such as liquid natural gas import terminals. 

While additional security of gas supply could be beneficial, we have secure supply at present from the Corrib Gas Field and the United Kingdom."  

The full words were as follows: 

"It's a bitter pill for people to swallow in West Limerick and North Kerry in particular, who had been anticipating this investment that would have created about 50 permanent jobs in the region, which would have been important to the region. But, you know, I first heard about this project about 12 years ago, when I was the energy spokesperson in opposition for Fine Gael. I met with Hess. I remember Jimmy Deenihan was at those meetings at the time. And the world has moved on a lot since then. The idea back then is that you would import fracked [???] gas probably from America and Africa [huh???] bringing in to a terminal there and that then would spin off industrial development - data centers - in the region, But so much has changed in the last 14 years and public attitudes have changed. And companies like Amazon and Facebook, when they're building their data centres. they don't want anything to do with fracked gas, or even fossil fuels at all. They want their data centres to be powered by renewable energy. In fact, they insist on it. And that's the way things are going increasingly the way things are going in terms of multinationals and industrial investment. So, I think the best thing that can happen out of this is that we have a replacement project that can be of more value to the region using the deepwater ports at Moneypoint and Foynes and Tarbert for offshore wind energy, for hydrogen, for things like that, that will bring more jobs and actually be more sustainable investment. And that's the kind of thing that I want to pursue, and pursue it quickly through a dedicated task force over the next few months. But I should say one factual thing though. What we have agreed to in relation to Shannon LNG is to remove it from what's called the Projects of Common Interest List. So it is not something that will receive government subsidies anymore. That doesn't mean it is removed from An Bord Pleanala. This is a private company and they can still go to An Bord Pleanala, still potentially get planning permission for it and still build it if they want to. But, it's just that it won't be a government-supported project anymore. We will be supporting something different, something better."

 





            

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