Debate contribution: Ban Petroleum Licensing and Fracking
Debate contribution by Miss Áine Murphy on .
- MLA
- Miss Áine Murphy
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 29 April 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Ban Petroleum Licensing and Fracking
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4486683
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I thank everyone who contributed to the debate. I am heartened that there has been a common thread of support throughout the debate for the motion. The importance of the motion cannot be overstated. As many Members may recall, I brought a private Member's Bill to the Floor, back in 2021, to ban the issuing of petroleum licences to companies that intended to use fracking as a method to extract shale gas. Unfortunately, due to time restraints before dissolution, I was unable to progress the Bill to its Final Stage. To add context, the threat of fracking has hung over Fermanagh for more than a decade, especially in the west of the county. Ever since the threat of fracking first emerged, people have expressed their widespread opposition to the practice. As a Fermanagh native, I am all too aware of the devastating impact that fracking would have on our environment. There is not a community anywhere in Ireland that wants petroleum exploration happening anywhere next or near it. The Hatch report lays out in great detail the risks that even conventional drilling poses to public health and water supplies for little or no economic benefit. Studies have also linked fracking to a host of health problems, including birth defects, asthma and cancer. The practice has been shown to cause groundwater contamination, soil corruption, earthquakes, noise pollution and significant increases in airborne radioactivity, as well as increased greenhouse gas emissions. It also has serious consequences for biodiversity, with many wildlife habitats and areas of conservation being impacted by industrialisation or destroyed by contamination. The threat of fracking still hangs over these communities because, as we debate this motion, fracking is still legal in the North. Evidence has been mounting over recent years on the negative impact that fracking has on nearby communities. My county of Fermanagh is renowned for its beautiful countryside and abundance of fresh lakes, to which thousands of tourists and anglers flock every year. As a county, we rely on the income that is generated through tourism, and I have no doubt that our tourist offering would be damaged beyond repair if fracking was ever allowed to go ahead. Many countries around the world have already introduced legislative bans against fracking, and that is set to continue to grow in the future. In 2022, the Assembly passed the Climate Change Act, which sets ambitious targets for net zero emissions. If any form of petroleum extraction were allowed to take place, it would actively work against meeting our commitments under the Climate Change Act, making it less deliverable. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to leave the door open to fracking or other means of petroleum extraction whilst we are required by law to reduce our carbon emissions. A major concern in my constituency is that, due to the different types of definitions of fracking, it could be allowed to slip through a loophole. A ban on petroleum licensing as a whole will reassure communities that fracking is not something that they will ever have to worry about again. In closing, the people of Fermanagh have fought tooth and nail over the past number of years to prevent petroleum licences from being granted. The fresh leadership in the Department for the Economy provides us with an opportunity to finally deliver a ban on petroleum licensing. I welcome the Minister's commitment to introduce legislation in 2025. Therefore we do not support the amendment, but we will not be pushing for a Division.
589 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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