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‘Safety
Before LNG’ is accusing the Irish Department of Climate, Energy and the
Environment of corruption and a move towards authoritarianism in going
beyond its remit in attempting to pass legislation for the commercial
operation of a State-owned LNG terminal on the Shannon Estuary
masquerading it as as a strategic emergency gas reserve. The current
Government, in March, only approved the construction of an LNG terminal
that would only be used if one of the gas interconnectors from the
North Sea via Scotland were lost. The Government did not approve the
commercial operation of an LNG terminal supplying 13% of the current
Irish gas market, as is now proposed by the Department through
fast-track legislation.
Using
false pretences, the legislation proposes giving Minister Darragh
O’Brien sole power to bypass all existing planning laws, compulsory
purchase laws, maritime area consents, climate laws and agreed energy
policy in Ireland to be the only person to give legal consent for any
kind of LNG terminal, public or private, under the false pretence
that the terminal would not be an entry point for gas in Ireland and
would not be commercially operated as is proposed by New Fortress
Energy’s Shannon LNG project.
Even
partisans of an LNG terminal in Ireland and members of government
parties should be seriously concerned by the unacceptable worrying
trend towards authoritarianism in the laws currently proposed in
Ireland signalling
a power grab to remove all administrative, public,
legal and legislative oversight of critical, major political decisions
being made by a smaller and smaller number of people in Ireland.
The
outcome of this proposed legislation would be for the Minister to be
able to commission the State-owned Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) to apply
to him for the planning permission to build his State-owned LNG
terminal after writing the enabling legislation for himself - and for
which his officials requested should bypass pre-legislative scrutiny.
There would be no checks and balances in the approval process and even
if one supports this project in a partisan manner, this fact still
raises numerous red flags on good governance and good old corruption
but in 2026-style. It is a power grab for major national decisions
benefiting the fracked gas fossil fuel sector to be in the hands of one
man, under false pretences, which in our mind represents corruption of
the planning process. Our forefathers, founders of the State, will be
turning in their graves with the carry on and the total disregard for
the laws built up over the last hundred years in the Republic.
This
chilling analysis and accusation of corruption by ‘Safety Before LNG’
against the Department needs an urgent investigation by the Joint
Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy as it undertakes
pre-legislative scrutiny on the proposed bill to fast-track a
State-owned Shannon LNG terminal masquerading as a simple gas storage
project, which the Minister’s officials also tried to
bypass.
The full
submission of 'Safety Before LNG' to the Joint Committee on Climate and
Energy as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Strategic Gas
Emergency Reserve Bill 2025, expanding on these issues in more
detail, can be downloaded here.
ENDS
Contact:
John McElligott - Tel.: 087-2804474 - Email:
[email protected]
www.SafetyBeforeLNG.ie |
