There are so many fronts on which to fight the war against fossil fuels in Ireland. I’m just going to focus on three, major topical ones here.
LNG
For starters, I’m going to assume you know how bad Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is in terms of the climate. If you don’t, see this briefing. LNG import terminals in Ireland need to be fought on two fronts - those intended to operate on a purely commercial basis and the purported “state-led” terminal.
The story on the commercial terminal front goes back to around 2007 and there have been multiple twists and turns in it since then. But as it now stands, there is an application by a company called Shannon LNG for a commercial LNG import terminal at Tarbert, Co Kerry on the Shannon Estuary with An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) and a decision could come any day now. It was actually due by 13th January.
The delay may well be related to the Supreme Court ruling in February on the Coolglass windfarm case, which could be causing ACP to have to re-assess the application. In a nutshell, ACP refused planning permission for the windfarm - on the basis of it contravening the County development plan. The windfarm developers brought the court case. The final opinion said ACP shouldn’t have refused planning permission, because Section 15 of the Climate Act “creates a legal obligation binding upon [An Coimisiún Pleanála] and enforceable, if necessary, by action, to ensure that any decision it makes to grant or refuse permission is consistent with the climate objectives set out in section 15.” The ruling made it clear that climate obligations were “real, effective and, if necessary, enforceable”. We live in hope that this means that this application will be denied on climate grounds. Watch this space.
Meanwhile the Government separately has plans for a “state-led” LNG import terminal. The site they’ve chosen is also on the Shannon Estuary, but on the other side, in Cahiracon, Co Clare. The Government claims we need this fossil fuel terminal for energy security - for the very specific circumstance that the Moffat pipelines from Scotland that supply Ireland with much of its natural gas get blown up. This is madness, as LNG availability and hence prices are highly volatile and vulnerable to geopolitical shock. Sadly, this is being illustrated right now with the war on Iran which has expanded out to other Middle Eastern countries and has resulted in sky-rocketing fossil fuel prices. The real answer to energy security lies in renewables, battery backup, demand management and demand reduction. That’s where public money should be spent - not wasted on a €900 million-plus monstrosity! Doubling down on fossil fuel in a climate crisis is nothing short of madness.
Climate Minister Darragh O’Brien has already published the “general scheme” (a sort of outline) of a Bill to get the ball rolling on “state-led” LNG - the “Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Bill 2025”. Bad enough that this paves the way for a new fossil fuel terminal, but also alarming is the attempt at centralisation of power in the Minister, who would get to make the decision on the application for this terminal, instead of the local authority or the planning authority (An Coimisiún Pleanála). And in an Orwellian twist, there’s also the fact that the Bill simply “deems” itself to be in compliance with Section 15 of Ireland’s ground-breaking climate act!
A bright spot is that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Energy and Environment (JOCCEE) actually came out with a pretty decent report listing multiple changes they recommend for the Bill - after hearing from some fantastic, compelling speakers in pre-legislative scrutiny public hearings. Of course this Bill should be ripped up altogether, but it’s heartening to see that the Climate Committee actually took on board many of the concerns that were expressed in the hearings. Whether Minister O'Brien will implement the Committee's recommendations is another matter and something to keep a very close eye on. Another factor to bear in mind with this is that the ruling on the Coolglass case applies to state actors too.
So watch this space! In some ways, with this first of two planned Bills, the fight against “State-led” LNG is just beginning.
Data centres
Talking about energy security, you know what is terrible for energy security? Data centres - which Ireland is awash in. It seems to me that the power needs of data centres is what the LNG terminals are truly slated for. These energy and water guzzlers used 22% of Ireland’s electricity in 2024 and are forecast to use a staggering 30% of our electricity by 2030! How can Ireland possibly reach its climate goals with these ugly behemoths ramping up the country’s energy demand and guzzling up new renewable energy as it comes on stream?
They also have their own backup generators spewing carbon pollution and some even have their own private gas-fired power stations. All this energy consumption for storing data, 53% of which is “dark data” meaning it’s questionable in terms of it being of any value and 28% of which is redundant, obsolete or trivial (“ROT” data)! It’s outrageous that we’re allowing them to multiply across our country. It feels like every time I turn around, there’s another one being built or approved. Just this month, the high court cleared the way for construction of a 200MW Data Centre Project in Ennis, Co Clare - following a court challenge by opponents, including Friends of the Irish Environment and Futureproof Clare. Again, watch this space. Like they say, it ain’t over til it’s over!
It is very concerning how little transparency there is in this country around data centres. Yet we are fed the line that we need them for “progress”. It seems to me they’re being rammed down our throats. It’s like there’s an inevitability around them. We shouldn’t buy into that attitude - in this country which is, let’s remember, a parliamentary representative democracy.
I’ve barely scratched the surface on data centres here, so if you’re hungry for more info, check out 5 reasons we don’t need so many data centre and this piece regarding legislation on “private wires” which is closely linked to the data centres issue, but which I don’t understand well enough to expound on.
The Passenger cap
If you’re not bummed out enough already, I need to tell you that the Government is also planning to cave to vested interests like Airlines for America, Ryanair and Aer Lingus by abolishing the Dublin Airport passenger cap. This is a hot topic, as the general scheme of the Bill to do this is now in train and, again, the Bill gives the Climate Minister himself the power to make the decision - to lift the cap in this case. See a trend here? And even worse than in the case of the LNG Bill mentioned above, this Bill magically “disapplies” the all-important Section 15 of Ireland’s Climate Act.
Even raising the cap from the existing 32 million limit to 40 million passengers annually would raise greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 22% by the year 2031. But the Minister’s Bill would enable him to get rid of the cap altogether and prevent any passenger cap ever being imposed again! That would surely make the shareholders of airlines and aviation leasing companies very happy, but it’s utterly unacceptable for anyone who wants a safe, livable future.
There is also huge injustice surrounding the aviation issue. Approximately 80% of the global population has never flown. And while a return Dublin-Alicante flight accounts for a climate impact equivalent to 0.74 mt of CO2 per passenger, an average person in Uganda emits just 1.1 mt in a whole year. Let that sink in.
Essentially the livelihoods and safe future of people who do not fly at all are being destroyed by the relentless efforts to expand fossil-fueled industries, such as aviation. And since I’ve only scratched the surface again, here’s a great resource on emissions and the injustice around aviation.
Where’s the shame?
All this, when Ireland - one of the richest countries in the world - is way off track on its climate goals. Minister O’Brien recently stated, without the decency to display any sign of the shame or embarrassment that should accompany such a statement, that the country will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only half of its legally binding 51 per cent target by 2030. If this isn’t a dereliction of duty I don’t know what is. We should be outraged and more importantly, hugely motivated to take action. This failure is going to cost us in many ways - up to €26 million in fines from the European Union - fines which are intended to motivate us to take sufficient action to attain our targets, as if the actual threat of increasing floods, droughts and wildfires destroying homes, livelihoods and well-being and the related financial costs shouldn’t be enough motivation.
Clarion call
Please take all this as a clarion call to get active and use your voice to speak out, because while there’s a lot to fight against, there’s a lot that’s worth fighting for. Are you just going to sit back and take all this s*** or are you going to join the many great people who are fighting back in Extinction Rebellion Ireland and many other great groups around the country - for the sake of your kids, your friends or, indeed, for yourself?
By Béibhin
Climate activist
