The committee undertook the report as part of the examination of the Prohibition of the Exploration and Extraction of Onshore Petroleum Bill introduced last June. After hearing experts and receiving submissions from the public, the committee concluded that it “is broadly in favour” of the bill, which proposes to outlaw hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

The technique involves breaking underground rock with high-pressure water to extract oil or gas and could be used in the northwest carboniferous basin surrounding the meeting of the Ulster, Connacht and Leinster borders, as well as in Co Clare and surrounding counties.

Water pollution risk

The report uses two main arguments to support the ban on fracking:

  • Water pollution risks, especially because of insufficient knowledge of Ireland’s geology. “Water pollution ... depends on the underground geology, hydrology and fracturing,” Alan Hooper of consultants CDM Smith told the committee. “Those data are not available. It is not possible to say if there are or are not many fractures. That piece of information is vital in the assessment of the risk.”
  • The long-term greenhouse gas emissions derived from extracting more fossil fuels instead of investing in renewable energy.
  • “Having considered all the evidence offered, while the committee accepts that while there may be economic advantages and enhanced energy security for Ireland in allowing unconventional oil and gas exploration, the committee is of the view that these benefits are outweighed by the risks to the environment and human health from an as-yet relatively untried technology,” wrote committee chair Hildegarde Naughton TD. “Consequently, the committee supports the bill, subject to any necessary technical amendments to make the bill effective.”

    The Oireachtas must now vote on the bill before it becomes law.

    Public submissions

    The report recommends to strengthen the bill to include penalties for breaches of the ban and the prohibition of other technologies in onshore oil extraction “such as those that use geothermal technologies”.

    The committee received more than 500 submissions from the public, including many from farmers, of which 120 were from the Farmers of North Leitrim group alone. Only one was in support of fracking because of its economic benefits.

    There is gas in the shale, but it has been here for millions of years and there is no rush in taking it out with this current method

    “We’re not anti-development, but there is too much of a risk factor – not just for this generation, but for the next ones,” Tommy Earley, a suckler farmer from Mount Allen, Co Roscommon, told the Irish Farmers Journal. “There is gas in the shale, but it has been here for millions of years and there is no rush in taking it out with this current method. Maybe later it will be safer.”

    Read more from farmers in the northwest oil basin in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

    Read more

    Download the full Oireacthas committee report