It is time for Ireland to step up and stop the exploration
for oil and gas in our offshore waters, the Green Party leader said this
morning.
Speaking at the launch of the party’s Prohibition of
Fossil Fuels Bill 2017, Eamon Ryan, TD said that the Government much step up
and support the Bill if “they are serious about climate change”.
The launch of the Bill comes just a day after Ireland was
singled out as Europe’s
worst-performing country for taking action to tackle climate change.
The Bill calls on the Irish Government to follow the lead
of France and ban all new oil and gas exploration in Irish waters.
If passed, the Bill will ban the Minister for Climate
Action, Denis Naughten, TD from issuing, renewing, or extending any license for
the exploration and extraction of oil and gas both onshore or offshore.
A 2015 study in the journal Nature concluded that
a third of global oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80 per cent of
current coal reserves must remain unused from 2010 to 2050 to meet the Paris
Agreement target of a maximum 2 °C rise in global temperatures.
“This Dáil has already banned fracking for onshore gas, it
is now time to take the next step and stop all exploration for oil and gas in
our offshore waters,” Mr Ryan said.
Are oil and gas here to stay?
In July, President Michael D Higgins signed into law a Bill
to ban onshore fracking in Ireland due to the potential health and
environmental impacts of the practice.
However, just days later, one of Ireland’s most prominent
oil and gas exploration companies, Providence Resources, was granted a license
to drill
in the Porcupine Basin, 220km off the southwest coast, in search of an
estimated five billion barrels of oil.
However, drilling at two wells turned up poor results, with
the company’s stocks dropping
by 16 per cent in Dublin and almost 30 per cent in London after it
announced the poor results. Shell Oil also recently left the Corrib gas field
with losses
of 2 billion.
The Greens argue that any further investment in new fossil
fuel infrastructure will end up as “stranded assets” as oil prices are unlikely
to rise above $60 a barrel and due
to pressure to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
Despite this stark warning, the Minister for Natural
Resources Sean Kyne, TD told the Atlantic Ireland Conference earlier
this month that oil and gas will remain “significant elements” of
Ireland’s energy supply until 2035.
He also told the audience that Ireland must walk a fine line
to balance the “competing aspects of competitiveness, security of supply and
sustainability” of our energy needs.
Drilling
off the coast of Kinsale is now expected to run from July 2019 to
November 2025, with further drilling
set to being in August 2018 just six kilometres off the Dalkey coast.
The Bad Boy of Europe
Released yesterday, the 2018 Climate Change Performance
Index puts Ireland in 49th place out of a total of 56 countries identified in
the study.
The Index also points out that Ireland’s performance in
terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is “very poor”.
“[Ireland] is nowhere close to being on track concerning its
well-below-2°C compatible pathway with both its current level as well as its
2030 target,” the report states.
While the report points to a “very positive trend in the
development of renewable energy” the current share of renewables in the overall
energy mix is “insufficient”.
Ireland is set to fall short of its 2020 EU energy targets,
largely owing to a dependence on imported oil and gas for heating our aging
housing stock. According
to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, 85 per cent of Irish energy
is imported, with 91 per cent of this coming from fossil fuels.
Green Party Deputy Leader Catherine Martin TD said that the
Bill now offers our Government “an opportunity to make amends”.
“The Government talk the talk on climate change – it’s time
for them to walk the walk and ensure a Just Transition to a carbon-free
society.”
Impact on Marine Life
The Green Party’s Spokesperson for the Marine, Senator Grace
O’Sullivan added that we are learning more and more on a daily basis about the
“damage that offshore oil and gas exploration is doing to our marine
environment”.
Petroleum companies release seismic blasts of compressed air
into the seabed in order to try and find oil and gas deposits buried beneath
the ocean floor.
It is estimated that one blast can deafen marine creatures
who rely on echolocation to communicate and hunt, and can kill up to 64 per cent
of zooplankton – the basis of the marine ecosystem – for up to 0.7
miles.
The Waterford Senator also highlighted the potential for
disruption and destruction of vital marine habitats in Ireland, as well as
areas “crucial to our fisheries, tourism and leisure sectors”.
“We need to protect our oceans and keep these polluting
fossil fuels in the ground,” she added.
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