DEAR SIR: ‘Ireland’s 2013 food and drink exports are just shy off a record €10 billion’ – Farmers Journal, 9 January, 2014. Among tales of storm damage this is indeed a welcome reprieve. As we well know, the green image enjoyed by the Irish agribusiness sector enables our small country to punch well above its weight internationally. But we must not rest on our laurels.

This pristine image is under threat. The government has granted licensing options to English and Australian companies Enegi and Tamboran Oil, in counties Clare and Leitrim. This allows them to assess the potential for fracking with a view of obtaining a drilling licence.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process where gas and oil are extracted by blasting large amounts of water (between three and five million gallons each time the well is fracked), sand and a mixture of 400 or more chemicals, at extremely high pressure into the earth. The exact list of chemicals is unknown, but formaldehyde, lead, hydrochloric acid and several listed carcinogenic substances are known to be among those used.

In 2012, Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell University, and vet Michelle Bamberger published peer-reviewed research which showed the effects of fracking on 24 farms in six American states. Several cases of reproductive, gastrointestinal and neurological problems were recorded among livestock, after exposure to fracking chemicals in the water or air.

On a farm in Pennsylvania, 70 cows died of respiratory failure following exposure to spilled fracking fluid. Another farmer reported a 50% stillbirth rate where cows had grazed in fields contaminated by a fracking chemical spillage. Need I go on?

I admit that fracking can provide us with much needed energy, but we must not be blinded by short-term gain as we have too much to lose. For the moment, there is no sufficient proof that fracking is safe for us, our herds and ultimately the food we produce.

If we wish to maintain our time-honoured farming tradition and our reputation as a top-quality food producer we need to let our government know that fracking is not the way to go.