Fracking Approach With Caution

"Ireland needs to get it Right"

Rabbitte: Fracking could be good for Ireland – but only if it’s safe enough

The natural resources minister also denies suggestions that Ireland is “giving away” its oil and gas reserves.



THE Labour Party MINISTER in charge of Ireland’s oil and gas reserves has said the controversial ‘fracking’ technique for gas extraction could be used to find gas in Ireland – but only if the technology is given a clean bill of health

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Pat Rabbitte said there had not been enough research done into the technique to establish whether it caused long-term harm to the environment, which would need to be completed before the procedure would be allowed in Ireland.

Rabbitte said the feedback of the Environmental Protection Agency, which is undertaking a major study on the environmental threats from the technique, would be taken on board before any exploration was approved

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‘Fracking’, or hydraulic fracturing, is a relatively modern technique, which involves pumping water and chemicals into rock formations, which are then forced open to release gas (and occasionally oil) from inside.

The technique has been criticized for contaminating ground water tables, posing threats to air quality, and causing surface contamination from chemical spills.

Rabbitte said if the technique was given “a clean bill of health and that the technology was safe and that the water tables weren’t damaged, and so on, you could see a situation where whoever’s in government at the time could consider that there is merit in us exploring to see whether we have resources in the area”.

He added, however, that we were “a long way from that” – and that the European Commission’s stance on the issue, which is being refined through the preparation of European legislation on the technique, was still to be brought forward.

TheJournal.ie

Sinn Féin Mountmellick-Serving The Community