Ireland: Government Committee Visits Leitrim to Discuss Fracking
Ireland has stepped up its debate on hydraulic fracturing with the country's Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications meeting yesterday with a wide range of experts, campaigners and policymakers to discuss the process.
The meeting, which aimed to help discern whether Ireland will give the go-ahead to the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as "fracking"), also included a trip to Co. Leitrim.
"The debate is particularly charged in the northwest of the country, where areas of Leitrim and Fermanagh are being assessed for their suitability for fracking," Chairman of the Committee Tom Hayes said yesterday. "We heard that any development might significantly impact on farming and tourism in the northwest, and pose a risk to groundwater supplies. Keen to gain a firsthand insight, our Committee undertook today to visit North Leitrim where preliminary investigations are currently taking place and engage with a wide range of opinion within the communities living there."
The county of Leitrim is one of the main areas in the country that will be affected should fracking get the governmental green light. It, along with the county of Fermanagh, is where Tamboran Resources is hoping to explore for shale gas.
The Australian-based company has previously announced its discovery of large reserves of shale gas in the Lough Allen basin, with a total of 4.4 trillion cubic feet of gas estimated to be present in the only of Ireland, with that amount split 50/50 between the North and the Republic of Ireland.
However, yesterday's meeting saw that figure challenged at the Committee meeting with one of the government's own experts saying that the figure needed to be further evaluated before it could be confirmed.
"The seismic data is very old and its quality is questionable," senior geologist with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources' petroleum division, Michael Hanrahan, said.
The Committee was taking care to consider all the environmental and social aspects of fracking, Chairman of the Committee Tom Hayes said. This would be taken into consideration with the environmental study of the activity.
"The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources [Pat Rabbitte] has the ultimate authority in granting licences for onshore gas exploration and he has made it clear that no decision will be taken before the results of further EPA scientific research is completed," Minister Hayes said.
Minister Rabbitte is due to take questions on fracking later today.