Speaking ahead of his participation in Friends of the Earth's climate hustings this morning, People Before Profit Climate & Environment Spokesperson Paul Murphy TD said:
“One of the Green Party’s main justifications for going into government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in 2020 was that they would block the development of LNG infrastructure in Ireland. The Programme for Government states “We do not believe that it makes sense to develop LNG gas import terminals importing fracked gas.”
Yet that is precisely what is going to happen as a result of the Green Party’s support for the designation of LNG as “strategic national infrastructure” in the recent Planning and Development Bill. That was such a monumental betrayal of the environmental movement that last weekend’s March for Global Climate Justice included a protest outside the Green Party’s head office.
In preparation for this morning’s Friends of the Earth’s climate hustings, I had a look at party manifestos on this key issue identified by environmental activists - the need for a ban on all LNG infrastructure in this country, whether commercial or “state-led”.
Unfortunately, the only party to commit to an outright ban on all LNG is People Before Profit.
Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats fail to mention LNG at all in their manifesto. The only slight reference from the Social Democrats is a promise to “Uphold the nationwide ban on fracking” that already exists. This has no bearing on the importation of fracked gas that will inevitably flow from the building of LNG infrastructure given that no mechanism exists to separate fracked from unfracked gas imports.
The Labour Party ignore this reality in promising to “ban the importation of fracked gas”. Even worse, they give themselves a massive get out clause in stating that “We will seek to end all further investment in fossil fuel infrastructure such as gas pipelines, gas (including liquified gas) storage infrastructure or fossil fuel power generation installations except for that which is required to balance the grid in the short term.”
The Green Party weakly say “if returned to Government we will look to deliver…mechanisms, which do not require additional gas infrastructure” - a far cry even from the empty promises of the 2020 Programme for Government.
People Before Profit are the only party to commit to no LNG of any kind, commercial or state-led, for any reason, now or in the future. Instead we need a radically different, ecosocialist approach based on public ownership of the energy system, reducing overall energy use and a just transition to a fossil-free future using 100% renewable energy.”