Gas Emergency Reserve Bill is a Trojan Horse for fossil fuel growth

Government’s LNG plan will lock-in fossil fuel dependency, ensure climate action failure, and is contrary to Ireland’s legal obligations, according to An Taisce  

An Taisce — the National Trust for Ireland is calling for an independent review of the General Scheme of the Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Bill (2025) to determine its compliance with Ireland’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended) as well as with European environmental directives.   

The proposed project represents close to a €1bn investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is an emissions-intensive fossil fuel; far more so on a full lifecycle basis than conventional gas and coal.  “The physical, human and economic impacts of climate change, illustrated by extreme weather events have never been more evident”, An Taisce said in a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy on Wednesday, February 4, adding that Ireland’s legally binding requirement under the 2015 Act requires that consumption of all fossil fuels, including natural gas, must decline rapidly before 2030.  “Deployment of any additional fossil fuel import infrastructure would work directly against that requirement”.  

In a presentation to the Committee Dr Aideen O'Dochartaigh and Professor Barry McMullin, members of An Taisce’s Climate Committee said An Taisce’s concerns with the Bill were multi-layered in that while it described the reserve facility as a transitional measure it risked locking-in Ireland’s dependency on fossil fuels and ensuring failure on the National Climate Plan in decarbonisation, meeting our international and national emissions reduction targets and carbon budgets. The Bill also proposes excluding the reserve facility from existing legal planning processes and limits public consultation and participation, raising potential problems with Aarhus Convention compliance. The Bill’s proposed fast tracked planning procedure centralises decision-making with the Minister and is full of ambiguities and potential legal issues.  

Barry McMullin, emeritus professor Dublin City University, School of Electronic Engineering, said that while energy security was seen as the driver for the reserve Ireland’s dependency on imported fossil fuels required a rapid, strategic investment in renewable energy for security. “Any prudent Government would bring forward coherent plans to rapidly phase out fossil fuel use, replacing it with secure, indigenous, renewable energy, in compliance with our national and international emissions limits. Unfortunately, this Bill instead prioritises fast-track development of new state-funded fossil fuel infrastructure, with no effective provision to ensure its alignment either with rapid fossil fuel phase out or emissions commitments. It should not proceed in this form”, he said.  

Aideen O’Dochartaigh, Associate Professor in DCU Business School, pointed to the Government ambition to fail on climate action given the Minister’s recent admission that Ireland faces nearly €28 billion in fines since it is projected to be 50% behind its emissions targets by 2030. She said: " This Bill is an unprecedented and irresponsible attempt by the Government to bypass the democratic planning process and rush through a project with potentially disastrous impacts for our climate targets. It is a counter intuitive investment in fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when the State is facing up to €28 billion in penalties due to missing EU climate targets and, as the Central Bank recently estimated, up to €2.2 billion per annum to 2030 in climate adaptation costs. While this project has been consistently justified by the Minister as a state-owned facility for emergency use only, this Bill does not include any provisions which confirm that it will be operated as such, and in fact could permit a private body to apply to develop the project on behalf of the State. In proposing to carve out an exemption from the Climate Act, the Bill is a Trojan Horse that could allow other LNG developments and make us dependent on US fracked gas for energy security, at the expense of investment in indigenous, decentralised renewable energy.”  

The environmental and social justice aspects of fracking, which is banned in Ireland, is also seen as a fundamental issue with the plan as outlined in the Bill. Onshore fracking (hydraulic fracturing) for oil and gas is legally banned in the Republic of Ireland under the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Prohibition of Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing) Act 2017.  

An Taisce Climate Committee is a voluntary group bringing climate researchers and professionals together to support An Taisce’s strategic climate action and advocacy.   

Read An Taisce’s opening statement to the Joint Oireachtas Committee 

Read An Taisce’s full submission on the Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Bill