ECONOMY Minister Conor Murphy’s recent announcement at the Northern Ireland Assembly that he would bring forward a motion to stop fracking in the North was welcome news to residents of rural Fermanagh.
The proposal to ban onshore oil and gas exploration and production in the North would cover all forms of onshore petroleum exploration and production – including fracking, Mr Murphy confirmed.
“The south of Ireland and Wales have recently banned all onshore petroleum activity, and Scotland has taken action on hydraulic fracturing, known as ‘fracking’. It is now time for us to act,” he told the Assembly.
“I will soon ask Executive colleagues to approve a ban and, if this is granted, I will introduce legislation to this Assembly to ban onshore petroleum licensing. This will require amendments to the Petroleum [Production] Act [Northern Ireland] 1964 and other regulations.”
MLA Aíne Murphy, pictured below, welcomed the new proposal and believed that Fermanagh would benefit greatly from a fracking ban.
“The threat of fracking has hung over Fermanagh for over a decade, especially in the west of the county. Ever since the threat of fracking first emerged, people have expressed their widespread opposition to the practice,” Ms Murphy said.
As a Fermanagh native, we are all too aware of the devastating impact fracking would have on our environment if it were ever to proceed. There is not a single community anywhere in Ireland that wants petroleum exploration happening anywhere next or near it.
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