Leitrim Councilor asks Roderic O’Gorman to stop fracked gas imports in meeting 

Last Wednesday, with the sounds of protest outside, Leitrim Cllr Eddie Mitchell met with Roderic O’Gorman, leader of the green party and Minister of Equality to ask him to do what he can to reverse a policy that will bring fracked gas imports into Ireland.

On the same day as the meeting Cllr Mitchell helped organise a protest outside the Green party offices in Dublin. At the meeting, Cllr Mitchell was joined in the meeting by other anti-fracking activists from Future generations Kerry, and Lamp in Fermanagh.  

“We met with Roderic O’Gorman. Very difficult meeting now, never had such a difficult meeting with a minister. There were no photographs at the end of it,” said Mitchell.

The policy they oppose is Action 17 in the Energy security package which Eamonn Ryan, minister for the Environment, introduced in 2023, which allows for a LNG terminal to be built in Ireland to facilitate emergency reservoirs of gas. 

Concerns amongst activists about the possibility of an LNG Terminal being built in Ireland was deepened last month as the Dáil passed a vote on the ‘Planning and development bill’ which includes an amendment which outlines LNG terminals as strategic infrastructure. 

“We wanted to know whether Roderic O’Gorman supported that position as the leader of the Green Party, or whether he was with us in our campaign, or whether he was actually gaslighting us and pretending that he was supporting us when he was actually working to bring in an LNG terminal.”

A 2023 report from CEPA, the Communities and Environment protection agency, outlined that “The development of an LNG terminal in Ireland would likely result in the direct importation of fracked gas to Ireland.”

Cllr Mitchell says that he brought up his belief that adding fracked gas to the Irish energy supply would lead to active fracking activities in the country to Mr O’Gorman, which he claims Mr O’Gorman agreed with.

Edel Hackett, a spokesperson for Mr O’Gorman has said that the green party has no intention of using fracked gas in a LNG terminal, and that Mr O’Gorman never acknowledged this in the meeting. “The Greens don’t want commercial LNG. We don’t want fracked gas. We don’t want fossil fuel lock-in,” she said.

She highlighted that the green party has explored an LNG terminal in Ireland as an emergency measure on a temporary basis, which they may not use at all, according to her. In the long-term, they would look towards energy sources like electricity for Ireland's fuel needs.

Though, this was not the message that Cllr Mitchell picked up from the meeting and he worries about the affect if fracked gas is brought into the Irish energy supply. “We know in Leitrim that if frack gas gets into the energy mix, that we'll be next … It's important for Leitrim people to keep frack gas out of the energy mix because our future is at stake here. There are trillions of cubic feet of gas under us. We don't want it to destroy us.”

In their campaign manifesto in 2020 the Green party promised that they would impose policy that would keep fracked gas exports out of Ireland.

“We're in a situation where Eamonn Ryan has broken his promise to the environmental movement … What we're explaining to Roderick O’Gorman is that he has a problem, that he is leader of a party that is bringing frack gas imports into Ireland,” says Mitchell.

“The environmental movement will be asking Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael and a number of independents, or whoever end up in power, to remove something that an environmental minister or what's supposed to be an environmental campaigner put there. That's just a ridiculous situation for us to end up in. So we need him. So we need Roderigo Gorman to fix that.”

An Bord Pleanála is currently reviewing an application from new fortress energy, an American oil and gas company, to build a LNG terminal in Kerry. The application was first submitted in 2007 but was denied on the basis that a review of Ireland's Energy security did not support the development.

 But the company brought it to the high court which ruled that the government's policy was too vague and needed clarification so the application is being reviewed again.

With the next election likely to be called this week, there is little time for policy to be changed, and the decision will likely need to come from Minister Ryan himself.

“Eamonn Ryan's gone off to work for the International, as the Vice Chair of the International Energy Agency, onto the world stage. So he's flown, he's away. But Roderic O’Gorman has to stay and face the public … He's going to walk away. And then expect us to get Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael to change it after he put it there. It's very difficult for us. Only the Greens could do that. It's the ultimate betrayal of the environmental movement.”

Cllr Mitchell also highlighted his belief that if this policy is not reversed, the green party will have lost its legitimacy, and constitute a crisis for them heading into the next election. 

“It means that the Green Party needs to be replaced. It means that the environmental movement... If this happens, we will have to rebuild it. We'll have to take down the environmental movement and rebuild it.”

“If this is not revoked then we will need to mount a campaign to get the next government to change the policy before an bord pleanála makes their decision … we are going to have a mountain to climb, and if we fail, it could actually affect everything we care about here in Leitrim.”

Minister Eamon Ryan’s office was contacted for comment though they have not responded to the request.

READ MORE: Ash dieback looms in Leitrim as councillors seek national action