For
Immediate Release
Press
Release August 19th 2025
Minister for Energy
refuses to clarify to the Irish Planning Authorities the Government's
position on the proposed private Shannon LNG terminal.
- Minister Darragh O'Brien leaves it up to
An Coimisiún Pleanála to decide on the planning application for the
privately-owned and permanent Shannon LNG terminal other than to confirm, once again,
that the Government already approved the development of a state-owned temporary LNG
terminal, as an interim measure, on March 4th 2025
The
Minister for Energy, Darragh O'Brien, has refused to clarify the Irsh
Government's policy position on the Shannon LNG planning application,
even though he was requested to do so by An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála).
In a move reminiscent of the recently failed referendum on the family
in Ireland, where the electoral commission stated that the courts would decide
on the meaning of words in the
proposed constitutional amendment, the Minister is basically letting it
up to the planning authorities and the courts to interpret what his
policy on private LNG terminals means,
instead of just telling the Commission what the policy decision his
department made actually means. This is a clear abuse of process by the
Department in refusing to collaborate in good faith with the Irish
Planning Authorities on a question of national importance and where the
interpretation will ultimately have to be expensively and unfairly
ruled on by the Courts.
The Commission wrote in June to the Minister that the Shannon LNG
project planning application, which was remitted back to
it for further consideration following a High Court Decision in favour of Shannon LNG, was
"a private FRSU and not a state led
one" and given that the Government
had approved the development of a state-owned LNG terminal, the
Commission was seeking "clarity as to
what is the policy in relation to
private FSRUs". The Minister wrote back that "on the 4th March 2025,
the Government approved the development of a temporary
State-led strategic gas emergency reserve, to secure Ireland’s
energy systems, as an interim measure, as we continue to transition to
an indigenous, clean renewable energy future". The Minister
failed to
address the clear question asked of him by the Commission, which was
"to provide the Commission with
information as to what in the
Minister's view are the implications of the Government's current
policy, as announced on the 4th March 2025, for this application
currently under consideration by the Commission".
Shannon LNG was granted
planning permission by An Bord pleanála for what it claims
would be a standalone 600MW gas-fired power plant on the site of the
proposed LNG terminal on March 13th 2025, but this decision has been appealed by Friends of the Irish Environment to
the High Court.
Shannon LNG will be concerned that the Minister did not come out in explicit support for the Shannon LNG project.
Campaigners opposed to the importation of US fracked gas - dirtier and worse for the climate than coal
- will also be concerned that the Minister, who already got
approval from his government colleagues to build a state-owned LNG
terminal as an "interim measure, as we continue to transition to an indigenous, clean renewable energy future",
could also not rule out a privately-owned commercial, permanent LNG
terminal which would lock the country into a fracked gas fossil fuel
future.
However, if the Minister has a silent and unwritten policy of
supporting Shannon LNG, then this undermines the basis on which the
Goernment reached its final decision on LNG development in
Ireland - a state-owned termporary Floating LNG
terminal to be owned by Gas Networks Ireland - which was to avoid the
fracked gas lock-in that a commercial LNG terminal would entail.
In fact, in March, when the the Government made its final policy decision on LNG, it stated "The
development of a State-led reserve in the form of an FSRU is consistent
with Ireland's climate law. It is a transitional measure – reducing the
risk of stranded fossil fuel assets, for emergency use only, and does
not support increased gas demand`". Shannon LNG's
project would be permanent, for continual use and would increase gas
demand, would breach our climate obligations even further and leave the
country facing huge financial exposure to the tune of billions of
euros. In April, the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Fiscal
Advisory Council published a report calculating that "the state may have to pay out €8 to €26 billion to its EU partners if it does not step up on climate action it has agreed to".
A dramatic change of policy needs proper assessment and cannot be
dreamed up behind closed doors while setting the framework for
development consent, putting an unfair responsibilty on the staff at An
Coimisiún Pleanála.
The Commission now has no choice but to refuse planning permission for
the proposed Shannon LNG project because even the Commission itself
recognised when it wrote to the Minister that the "application
in this matter relates to a private FSRU, and not a state led one [...]
to be owned on behalf of the State by the system operator, Gas Neworks
Ireland" was not the type of LNG project the Government supports.
Indeed,
the Commission has the power to refuse permission because Section
15 (1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as
amended) states:
15.(1) A relevant body shall, in so far as practicable, perform its functions in a manner consistent with—
(a) the most recent approved climate action plan,
(b) the most recent approved national long term climate action strategy,
(c) the most recent approved national adaptation framework and approved sectoral adaptation plans,
(d) the furtherance of the national climate objective, and
(e) the objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State.
ENDS
Notes:
These are the letters the Minister received from and sent to An
Coimisiún Pleanála:
