For Immediate Release. Press Release February 25th 2026

No More Lies! Gas Networks Ireland Chief Bobby Gleeson's false claims that "there are absolutely no Health and Safety Impacts" around the Seveso III State LNG terminal in County Clare is a Breach of Trust.

- COO Bobby Gleeson's claims that there are "absolutely no health and safety impacts" around the proposed Clare LNG terminal completely ignore the fact that the terminal will have the status of an upper-tier SEVESO III site - the most stringent regulatory classification under the Seveso III Directive in Europe.

- LNG accidents have the potential to put people in harm's way up to three miles from an LNG tanker.

When senior management in Gas Networks Ireland start making statements that are simply not credible on local radio from the outset about the health and safety impacts of a proposed terminal in County Clare, then the question arises as to what other claims he will make about the FSRU, and whether we can trust him. In County Kerry, when Shannon LNG started off in the same vein in 2007, lying that leaked LNG is lighter than air and would evaporate quickly and harmlessly, then we too lost trust in the developer. We want evidence-based decision making in a transparent manner on the impacts of this proposed forever-LNG terminal on the lives of people within the 3-mile danger zone, with no more lies. Mr. Gleeson also highlighted that the terminal site was in a rural area, which, as was the case in Tarbert, insinuates that the lives of people in less-populated areas constitute an acceptable level of risk for the developer. All lives matter — especially those of the people of Clare who already live close to the Aughinish Alumina site across the Estuary, which was developed without proper consideration of local health and safety. The LNG site will be an Upper-Tier Seveso establishment, which by definition presents major accident hazards that require quantified risk assessment, land-use planning controls, and transparent communication of risk contours.

The Dangers of LNG to people three miles away and the need to define exclusion zones around the proposed FSRU in Cahiracon, County Clare.

The danger is that a leaked LNG vapour cloud is heavier than air and can travel along ground or water and modelling has shown that under certain conditions it can remain flammable for many kilometres — potentially up to 12.4 kilometres, given that it is flammable at concentration levels of between 5 and 15% methane. Over water especially, an LNG vapour cloud initially behaves as a dense, ground-hugging vapour cloud until it warms and disperses, so it can travel long distances laterally before it meets an ignition source. Even if the probability of an accident is low, the consequences are enormous. That is why an LNG site on water demands the highest level of independent safety assessment.

Renowned LNG expert Professor Jerry Havens told the oral hearing on the proposed LNG terminal in County Kerry in 2008: "If an LNGC were to be attacked in the proximity of the shoreline, either while docked at the terminal or in passage in or out of the estuary, and cascading failures of the ship’s containments were to occur, it could result in a pool fire on water with magnitude beyond anything that has been experienced to my knowledge, and in my opinion could have the potential to put people in harm’s way to a distance of approximately three miles from the ship. I have testified repeatedly that I believe that the parties that live in areas where this threat could affect them deserve to have a rational, science-based determination made of the potential for such occurrences, no matter how unlikely they may be considered".

Professor Havens also said that an LNG cloud is reasonably easily ignited, as he demonstrated in his showing of the 1987 Nevada Desert Falcon Test accident video.

SEVESO III Obligations

The proximity to the major hazardous site of Aughinish about 2 miles across the estuary from Cahiracon requires a formal domino assessment under the SEVESO III Directive if there is potential for escalation between establishments. Under the land-use planning obligations of Article 13,

• Member States must control development near Seveso sites

• Must prevent inappropriate new housing near major hazard sites

• Must consider domino effects and

• Must make this information available when planning decisions are being made.

What basic Safety Information is Needed before any decision to build an LNG terminal on the Shannon Estuary is made

• A Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) of an LNG Spill on Water. A Navigational risk assessment was undertaken for the Shannon LNG project, proving ships could navigate the waters. That is not the same thing as a Quantitative Risk Assessment of an LNG spill on water.

• The risk from an unignited vapour cloud travelling as much as 12.4 kilometres before reaching an ignition source
  

• Because of the wind direction on the Estuary, we need to have an independent assessment of the risk contours around the site
  

• We need to know the exclusion zones for safety and developments up to 3 miles from the site.

• We need to know the risk assessments and assessment of domino effects that were undertaken for this and all the alternative sites assessed by Gas Networks Ireland
  

ENDS

Contact:

John McElligott - Tel.: 087-2804474 - Email: [email protected]

www.SafetyBeforeLNG.ie

Notes:

1. Asked about any tourism, environment or health impacts of the proposed State-owned LNG terminal in County Clare, Gas Networks Ireland COO, Bobby Gleeson told Clare FM on February 23rd, 2026 "There is absolutely no health or safety impacts around these developments. There is more than 50 similar developments worldwide that have been operating happily for more than 20 years and indeed, there is more than 800 gas tankers on the ocean, and they have a fantastically good safety record. So, I have no concerns in that regard". He went on to say "Where we're planning to do this development is quite rural by international standards. A number of these installations around the world are in much more, say, urbanised marine areas. I know I've seen one in Malta myself and there are hotels and restaurants on the waterfront looking directly out at this infrastructure and both the infrastructure and the people and the tourists co-exist in harmony. So I don't see any such impacts".