October 31st, 2019
Extinction Rebellion activists called on the Government to revoke all oil and gas prospecting licences during a protest staged outside a petrochemical conference yesterday.
Demonstrators held an
action outside the Burlington Clayton Hotel in Dublin to oppose the Atlantic
Ireland 2019 Conference where Minister of State for Natural Resources Sean
Canney TD delivered the opening address.
Fifteen litres of fake
blood was poured at the entrance to the hotel hosting the conference that Extinction
Rebellion Ireland said represented “the blood on the hands of the oil
corporations”.
The two-day event is run by the Irish Shelf Petroleum Study Group (ISPG) and promotes oil exploration and development within the petrochemistry industry. The ISPSG is part of the wider Petroleum Infrastructure Programme (PIP) within the Department of Climate Action.
“The oil industry has
known for decades that climate change was a problem but has carried on
drilling, despite decades of warnings,” Extinction Rebellion Ireland said in a
statement.
The science is now
“screaming we are in trouble,” the group continued, and taking any action,
“will disrupt or stop oil exploration and will raise awareness with the public
and the government of the need of urgent climate action”.
At the conference, Mr
Canney outlined further details of the Taoiseach’s unexpected announcement in
his address to the United Nations Climate Action Summit in late September to
cease new offshore exploration for oil.
Mr
Canney confirmed that all future licencing rounds in the currently closed offshore
area – around 80 per cent of offshore – will be only for natural gas – viewed by
the Government as a vital transition fuel toward decarbonisation by mid-century.
All new licence applications in the remaining open 20 per cent of our offshore area, namely the Celtic Sea, Irish Sea and coastal areas, will also only be open for natural gas only.
All applications and authorisations in place before the Taoiseach’s announcement was made will not be affected by the decision. There are almost 40 existing exploration licences for both oil and gas, some of which allow for drilling until 2034.
Extinction Rebellion
Ireland demands
Extinction Rebellion read out their demands during the action during the protest, including revoking all prospecting oil and gas licences, enacting a People Before Profit Bill to limit future exploration licences, and to drop any support for the proposed Shannon Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal.
The Shannon
LNG project has been put forward by the Irish
government as a Project of Common Interest to the EU and is the only standalone
Irish project on the list.
Critics argue that the
Government is well aware that gas entering the terminal would come from the US
fracking industry as the company behind the project, New Fortress Energy,
currently receives gas from the industry and also intends to expand its
operation into the fracking hotbed of Pennsylvania.
Fracking – banned in
Ireland over environmental and health concerns – involves the injection of
pressurised water, sand, and various chemicals into shale rock to force the gas
out. Numerous studies have linked fracking to health issues, earth tremors, and
large carbon and methane emissions.
People Before Profit’s The Climate
Emergency Measures Bill initially passed in the
Dail last year and was scheduled to proceed to Committee Stage over the summer
but was stalled when Minister Canney told Brid Smith TD that the Bill required
a money message.
A money message is
essentially a State recommendation signed by the Taoiseach approving of
legislation that will cost the State money as per Article 17.2 of the
Constitution.
The Article states no
law that requires the spending of public money shall be passed without
Government approval first. Unless approval is received, a Bill cannot progress
to Committee Stage.
People
Before Profit’s Bríd Smith, who sponsored the Bill, said itis now clear
that the Government’s declaration of a climate emergency was merely an “exercise
in spin and greenwashing”.
“Fine Gael and the government are now shown up to be climate saboteurs. Their interests are not with the planet or the climate, or with the student strikers- their interests are with the polluting fossil fuel industry,” she added.
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