Leitrim voices rise against LNG terminal plans at Dáil Éireann protest

The Stop Shannon LNG Coalition, made up of various groups including Love Leitrim, gathered outside the Dáil on Tuesday, July 15 to express outrage over the Government’s plans to develop Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure in Ireland.

They strongly oppose such infrastructure due to its negative impact on climate, public health, and the cost of living. Activists held a 14-metre-wide banner reading ‘STOP SHANNON LNG’, referring to the proposed LNG terminal.

Leitrim involvement was significant with local councillors Eddie Mitchell and James Gilmartin, along with Leslie O’Hora, Chairperson of Good Energies Alliance Ireland, participated in the demonstration and members of Love Leitrim. Senator Nessa Cosgrove of the Sligo-Leitrim Labour Party also attended.

“We decided it’s time to put a spotlight on it again because the last thing we want is this coming in through the side door through the Government’s proposal to have an emergency supply of LNG which effectively would be fracked gas coming in from the States to a terminal in North Kerry,” said Mr O’Hora.

The coalition is protesting New Fortress Energy, an American company planning to build an LNG terminal in Ireland. The company exclusively sources gas through fracking, a process that has been banned in Ireland since 2017. 

New Fortress Energy proposes to build the terminal and a 600MW gas power plant at Ballylongford in County Kerry, on the Shannon Estuary. The project is known as Shannon LNG.

The power plant has already received planning permission, and An Coimisiún Pleanála is currently reviewing the reactivated planning application for the LNG terminal.

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For Cllr Mitchell, the issue is deeply personal. He described Leitrim as a gas basin, where natural gas reserves lie beneath the surface. 

Cllr Mitchell next to a 14-metre-wide banner reading ‘STOP SHANNON LNG’.

He warned of the consequences, saying, “The best way to view how it could affect people here is to look at Dimock in Pennsylvania. They’ve been suffering from rare cancers.

“The water is black, the deep groundwater is contaminated. There’s loads of research to show human rights impacts, health impacts, and impacts on the environment.”

The Government originally banned LNG in 2021, acknowledging the global and local impacts of fracking. However, Eamon Ryan overturned the policy in 2023 after the An Bord Pleanála rejection of the Shannon LNG planning application. 

The application has now been sent back under a new policy that supports LNG terminals, effectively removing the ban.

In the past two weeks, An Bord Pleanála has written to Minister Darragh O’Brien, asking him to clarify his policy on privately owned LNG. The Minister must respond by August 7.

There are growing fears that, if this LNG terminal proceeds, fossil fuel companies could begin importing and distributing fracked gas nationwide.

According to Cllr Mitchell and Mr O’Hora, the LNG terminal would seriously undermine Ireland’s climate goals. “The global warming impact of importing fracked gas into Ireland outweighs all our efforts to reduce our annual emissions,” said Cllr Mitchell.

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“While the Government struggles and fails to reduce emissions by a target of 8 percent a year, even just considering fracked gas imports associated with boil-off would incur 3.75 percent of Ireland's total emissions, if we were only to use the LNG terminal as a storage unit.

“Those are the emissions associated with spending €900 million on a terminal that won’t be used. In the real world, the emissions will be so much greater,” he added.

Activists are calling for a stronger push toward renewable energy, emphasising Ireland’s wind energy potential. “I’d like to see the Government stand by its existing obligation and not allow fracked gas in Ireland, including importation of fracked gas, to ensure we concentrate and focus the mind on getting alternatives to fossil fuel energy such as offshore wind, solar, and geothermal,” Mr O’Hora said.

“The Minister has to clarify what his position is, and if he doesn’t, it will be very hard to stop this happening.

We’ll be faced with a situation like we were with fracking, where we have to organise a massive campaign and stand on the road again like we did in 2011,” Cllr Mitchell warned.

Senator Nessa Cosgrove and John Feely of the Sligo-Leitrim Labour Party along with Leslie O’Hora and members of Love Leitrim.