Irish pass laws to ban fracking

An outright ban on fracking in Ireland is days away after the Republic’s parliament passed new laws outlawing the controversial practice.

It will be illegal to drill onshore for shale gas from rocks, sands and coal seams after a rural politician backed grassroots campaigners to spearhead the legislation.

Tony McLoughlin, TD for the Sligo-Leitrim, introduced the legislation over a year ago and secured crossparty support in parliament.

“This law will mean communities in the west and north-west of Ireland will be safeguarded from the negative effects of hydraulic fracking,” he said.

“Counties such as Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Clare will no longer face negative effects like those seen in cities and towns in the US, where many areas have now decided to implement similar bans to the one before us.

“If fracking was allowed to take place in Ireland and Northern Ireland it would pose significant threats to the air, water and the health and safety of individuals and communities here.”

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, involves drilling into the earth before a highpressure water mixture, sometimes using sand and chemicals, is forced into rock. Openings are created for gas to seep out into deep wells.

Ireland joins three other European Union countries – France, Germany and Bulgaria – to ban fracking on land.