Alice-Mary Higgins
National University of Ireland · Independent · Ireland
“We are signing up to be customers of liquefied natural gas - potentially fracked gas, potentially coming from a country that is busily fighting against climate action and trying to fast-track our route to destruction. We will be doing that every year in the budget and every day in the terminal.”
“We are not getting solid measures on those safeguards. The other safeguards we have, which are our planning laws and climate laws, are being either fast-tracked or suspended. We are suspending the existing safeguards and are not putting hard safeguards into this Bill, and we are being asked to go on faith.”
“Nonetheless, I have some practical questions. We need a little more on what the emergency is because it is not sufficient to say we will deal with it then. The emergency is the ground on which the Minister of State is asking for the normal planning process and the climate Act to be suspended. We need to know what the emergency is.”
“It should happen only after all relevant market-based measures have been implemented. Those market measures should include the demand-reduction strategies that are eligible under N-1, including demand reduction by large energy users, and should have been implemented, exhausted and proven insufficient.”
“Sure there is detail in it but the key issue is that what he is asking of the Oireachtas, which is to agree to it being built, is on the argument of there being an emergency. It should be very clear what the emergency is. I mentioned previously that the committee said our N-1 obligations could be met through demand management.”
“It comes from real places with real communities that are immediately and terribly impacted by fracking, as well as having an impact on the atmosphere that surrounds our beautiful planet, which we are destroying. As the Minister of State said, it impacts not just on business but on the liveability of large portions of this planet.”
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“These workers are delivering the same services that perhaps should be delivered directly by the public services at much lower pay rates and without the same security. If we have statements on 9 May, I hope we will be able to address the very worrying statements from the Taoiseach indicating his intention to delay the implementation of the adequate minimum wage directive and to delay progress towards a living wage. This is coming at a time of international insecurity. We cannot have a situation whereby we are deciding to wait until 2029, which is after the term of the Government, before we deliver a living wage for workers. The adequate minimum wage directive inserts adequacy as one the things we should be thinking about when we determine the minimum wage.”
“UCD has published reports highlighting that up to 27% of jobs in the State are precarious in nature, with little security, lower wages and few opportunities to grow and develop. In the higher education sector, which I work with very closely as a Senator, more than 40% of employees are on temporary, short-term or part-time contracts without access to rights and benefits or the ability to plan their lives. This is not just bad for the workers but for all of us because insecurity in the area in which we hope ideas will be generated creates a climate of fear and moves us away from the thinking, security and ideas we should be getting from the higher education sector, including diversity. Section 39 healthcare workers took action in February and March to demand what they deserve, namely, pay parity with their public sector counterparts.”
“We will have statements on Europe Day later and I am looking forward to making a contribution. However, I have checked and Europe Day is usually celebrated on 9 May by the European Parliament and on 5 May by the European Council. While I am of course delighted we are going to have the opportunity to speak about Europe Day, I am a little puzzled as to why we are not doing so next week because today is International Workers' Day. It is May Day, the day for workers across the world. Since we are having Europe Day statements today on International Workers' Day, perhaps we could have statements on workers' rights on 9 May. Both are very important and worth marking. I have a few things to say to mark International Workers' Day. Much work needs to be done on workers' rights in Ireland.”
“For example, British Petroleum has now said that it will abandon renewables and go back to focusing on fossil fuels because of this new wave of cheerleading on fossil fuels. If we choose renewables, we must choose renewables. I support the amendment. I think it is a responsible one and I hope that the Government would have regard to it in their policies.”
“We should not be setting up infrastructure that requires us to take one of the dirtiest fossil fuels in the world from a place that is not even measuring it or limiting it or making any effort to ensure that the way it is extracted does not contribute to the escalation of climate change. It makes us complicit in that and it is dangerous. I spoke about the disasters in the past in Bantry. There we saw deaths from the Whiddy Island disaster and others. We are talking about a very dangerous fuel, which as has been described, requires venting and all kinds of processes that will be taking place in Ireland. There is a reason we banned fracking in Ireland but now we are looking at bringing that in at a time when it will take a long time to be created anyway. It will compete directly with and undermine renewables.”
“They are vampires on our energy system and they are jeopardising the country's energy security, in the long term. Let us be real and acknowledge that we are on a planet which has a limited period of time and a limited amount of space before it becomes so hot that people start dying in their hundreds of thousands, if not millions. That is where we are at. We need to be real and acknowledge that climate change is real, as are its impacts and costs. It will be hitting us if we contribute to it. Liquefied natural gas, LNG, has an 80% higher impact, that is, the impact comes sooner and is quicker. The reality is that most LNG will be gas that is fracked in the United States. That is where it is largely produced and the United States has left the Paris Agreement.”
“One of the things not being acknowledged or properly addressed is the fact of very large energy consumers and what that does to our planning and to our energy piece. This is where I want to come to. I had a few other points but I will put them aside because I want to use my last two minutes to speak in support of Senator Cosgrove's amendment. The issue is around demand and we have to be honest about this issue. There is a driving up of demand when we look to having data centres and other large energy users that may use up to 30% of the electricity in the State. We constantly hear about the lights going out in hospitals but we do not hear about the risks posed by data centres and other large users. These are commercial services that in many cases, all they produce are ads that refresh every millisecond.”
“When we talk about "sustainable" it is important that we are clear that this interpretation should be a "sustainable" that matches the sustainable development goals. It should not just be "sustainable" as in "you can keep doing it", but sustainable in the more meaningful sense. These are areas where a robust interpretation will determine if those paragraphs and policy protections actually mean something. There are areas where I am concerned about contradictions. For example, national policy objective 32 talks about rural areas and investing in ICT and in climate services. I am hoping that should read, "ICT related". If that is to do with data centres then that is a problem because it is in total contrast to our climate goals. It is important when we see that language to know exactly what it means.”
“This will be one where I will look to the Minister of State specifically, because it will be about how strongly the Minister of State interprets his powers in this regard and how he applies them. When the document says that this should be done in relation to biodiversity, it is important that it is not with regard to biodiversity at the fringes, but that there is an assertion of biodiversity sustainability being in the core design of the steps that are taken in the core projects. It should be central to projects rather than being at the fringes of projects. That will be crucial, as it cannot be the scatter of seeds at the end. The word "sustainable" is used constantly in the document.”
“However, there are no robust measures that will tackle the issue of dereliction and the extraordinarily large amount of housing left vacant. Sometimes properties are left vacant as part of investment portfolios and not used as residences. When we talk about vacancy and dereliction, it is not just about the boarded-up houses in our towns and villages, it is also about having apartment blocks with apartments empty, because they simply are driving up the price. There are some positive measures. I am glad the Minister of State has joined us because of his remit in terms of biodiversity. There is some hopeful language in relation to biodiversity in this. I was glad to see that the SDGs are mentioned in national policy objective 14 and biodiversity in national policy objective 88. These are quite strong references to biodiversity.”
“That was missing from Housing for All, even at the time when we knew that Ireland had committed, rightly, to give support to those from Ukraine who were coming through. This needs to be planned for to ensure that our housing capacity is genuinely there in terms of where our population will be. Another piece in terms of housing that notably is not coming through, despite being identified again and again as probably one of the single, earliest things we could do, is to really tackle vacancy and dereliction. There are not strong measures within this around tackling the extraordinarily high levels of vacancy and dereliction. I acknowledge there is reference to brownfield sites and existing footprints but these are very indirect.”
“Others have mentioned that the plan falls short of what was recommended by the Housing Commission. There are disjoins. I acknowledge that this is not just about housing but one piece that was missing from Housing for All was the failure to acknowledge the positive reality, from my perspective, of migration and to acknowledge that it is part of the population change we have. At the time, Housing for All simply left out whole sections of people who need to be housed but were not featured within the plan and strategy. Then, when we had people coming through, it was treated as a emergency, rather than an actual reality of modern states. Migration is a reality and should be planned for just like other housing need and should be built into the picture, rather than being treated as an emergency at the fringes.”
“Will it involve profit-maximising development or social and affordable housing, and to what extent? We know from the recent articles we have seen there are those who bemoan that there may be a gap in the luxury housing market in terms of a recession. The actual gap is about the houses that people can afford to live in. We need social housing that allows those families who cannot afford to purchase a house or be secure in the unstable rental environment in Ireland to have foundations on which their families can build and grow and homes from which their children can go to school. We need to allow them to plan their lives. Our greatest social substructure is social housing that ensures every family can have a proper start in life. I regret that social and affordable housing has not been identified more clearly in the ambition of the targets.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. In considering this, I have to join with others in saying that given the length of time the planning framework will cover and how important it will be as a frame for all of the policy discussions and issues we will raise over the next few years, I regret that we have not had a proper process going through committees with an opportunity to engage and consider the collective wisdom we may be able to draw from Oireachtas Members of all parties and expert witnesses. There have been consultations, but we should take more time to consider the plan. I want to look to a few of the key points, some of which have been addressed by others. I refer to social and affordable housing. There is concern about mixed development in the context of the LDA and others. It is not clear what that will mean.”
“I look forward to further engagement with the Minister of State. I know he is interested in that social component and I hope the environmental component as well. There is much that could be done to improve how we do forestry and learn from some of the unfortunate incidents that have happened over the past year.”
“I am sorry to be saying so many bad things about the Sitka spruce, but I have a few more bad things to say. There is an issue with regard to pests, including the pine weevil. Other people have talked about ash dieback, but there is also an issue regarding the pests associated with it. Let us be a bit ambitious about our forestry and try to do something substantial. Let us create forests for the ages. Ireland used to have the kind of forests that they built cathedrals from. Let us not just produce forests that give us wood pulp and 20-year products. When we discuss carbon credits and sequestering carbon, we need to be clear and honest. A tree does not start to store carbon until 20 years in. If we are planting trees and cutting them down after 20 years, we are not actually delivering on that. We will get called out on that.”
“What we have seen, however, with the closure of that Natura project, is that Coillte cannot do it if it does not have the right mandate. If Coillte is being told to deliver a little bit of cash this year and that the Department wants to see a return in three years' time but is also being asked to be the engine for a new form of and approach to forestry in the future, there is a contradiction there. I am urging the Minister of State to consider that issue of strengthening its mandate and giving it a mandate that will deliver. Doing so would make Ireland's case much stronger when it comes to accessing EU funds and exemptions in the future, for example. I would love to have the opportunity to engage with the Minister of State on that. I will raise a couple of other brief issues.”
“We should look to particular incentives that encourage those who may have relied on the Sitka spruce and a short-term cycle with regard to its harvesting to invest in a longer term product and for them to feel confident that the State will pay them and reward them for that. It is an opportunity. These are the policies that can be brought into place in general, but the big lever we have is Coillte. If Coillte gives a lead or shifts the way it does forestry, that will be the easiest and quickest thing we will have done with regard to delivering on our climate and biodiversity targets. It will also give leadership and create capacity within the forestry sector that all individual farmers and individual actors will benefit from.”
“There is an opportunity, maybe within this scheme, but certainly going in to the next scheme that is coming and where we will be going back to the European Union - I hope not spending a year and a half messing with it this time to try to get a new scheme or to try to get out of the state aid rules again - to have a really different shift. Someone mentioned those who are looking to replant after Storm Éowyn, the difficulties they face with trees on the ground and all the rest of it, and that they might need help to do it in a different way. I would say we should look to a premium for those who use that as an opportunity to shift towards a different model of forestry.”
“If we look to what happened in Killarney with the terrible forest fires a couple of years ago, what was really interesting was that many of the indigenous trees weathered it. They did not go down in the same way, they were not damaged in the same way, and they had a resilience when it came to those forest fires. There is a lot in terms of the sustainable planting of trees. The right trees in the right places is important, and trees that are actually going to survive and thrive in that location is also important.”
“Going back to the socially, environmentally and economically sustainable aspect, one thing we learned from Storm Éowyn is that Sitka spruce is a liability when it comes to sustainability. We saw the 11,000 ha of Coillte land that got badly damaged and we saw that Sitka spruce became more damaged. One of the earlier speakers mentioned the phenomenon whereby the edge of the forest was still standing and the centre was gone. I can tell you why. It was because a lot of the edge of the forest is where they stick the broadleaf and, in the middle, you will find large swathes of Sitka that did not and does not stand up to extreme environmental events. That does not just go for those environmental events like the storm.”
“We cannot be saying we are doing agroforestry as well when we are doing 100 ha and doing 4,600 ha of Sitka spruce. I will come to that in a minute. This is where I think we need a better form of thinking about it. We need to increase and improve the premiums people get when they are delivering on broadleaf and long term. They should be based on the carbon aspect - that is one part of it - but it should also be based on what they are doing for biodiversity and how they are delivering what I have called the ecological care credit. I know there are lots of farmers around the country who are doing really good work - the riparian riverside scheme is a really good example - and they should be rewarded for it properly, rather than having schemes that benefit massive commercial investors who land in and land out.”
“We know there were huge delays in the previous forestry programme, which will expire in 2027, within the term of this Government. A lot of it was the feedback from the European Union at the time and some of what was said, and I looked at all of the correspondence back in November, related to Ireland having too much of a business-as-usual approach. When you look to the 8,000 ha, and we have heard it talked about a lot, and I will come back to Coillte in a minute, the balance is really off, because there was 250 ha of broadleaf and 250 ha of birch or alder. Agroforestry, which I was delighted to hear the Minister of State mention because it is something that should get a lot more support, was pinned for about 100 ha. Meanwhile, the mixed high forest, which is basically Sitka spruce, was 4,645 ha.”
“For example, we know the scandal when there was all of the outrage about going with a large multinational, with Gresham House investors, rather than engaging with local partners. If the Government were to say you can look for the economic return but you have to do it in a way that is socially sustainable, then it would be done in a slightly different way. Similarly, in environmental terms, it would mean that not only would we be delivering and achieving what we need to achieve in terms of climate, first and most important, as other speakers have said, and in terms of biodiversity, pollinators and all of the rest that it is going to deliver for us, but also it would be the kind of thing that would be a bit of insurance for ensuring Ireland has credibility when we go to the next round of big forestry policies.”
“It is not just value for money being talked about but short-term delivery of cash as the priority for Coillte rather than a longer term delivery of value for money or value for the State. I would love an opportunity to meet and engage with the Minister of State and discuss with him the shifting of the mandate from it being the business of forestry on a commercial basis to one that is more sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. When we think about that, it is actually very solid. We still have the economic bit, which is important. We have to deliver economically through our forestry. However, if we are saying are they delivering for local communities and society, the decisions and choice we make might be different.”
“We now import all of our telephone poles because those need to be trees that have a longer lifespan of 60 years, whereas we are seeing trees with a 30-year lifespan being increasingly used in forestry. Crucially, there is a short-term mindset in Coillte. That project is a really good example of it. With respect to the previous Government, to simply say, "Let's have a non-profit bit of Coillte", is not an adequate solution. Rather, we should be looking to shift the outdated mandate of Coillte, which is left over from the eighties. Coillte is very much a commercial forestry business. In the shareholder letters sent by the Government to Coillte, phrases like "cash generative" are used.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will pick up on a couple of the points that have been talked about during the course of the debate. Coillte has been a focus for me for a long time. The Minister of State may or may not be aware that I have put forward proposed legislation on the mandate for nature, which was about changing the mandates of Coillte. Coillte is the largest landowner in the State, owning and controlling 7% of the land. Unfortunately, we have seen over a number of years policies in Coillte that have moved away from native trees and increasingly towards more and more Sitka spruce. We have seen the term time for wood decrease.”
“When the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade came to the House, unfortunately, the timing naturally meant that the focus was on tariffs, but we need to have that debate on what Ireland is doing on Gaza. We need to know at every level what is happening and we need to know that, behind closed doors, the same messages are being given to any delegates who come, particularly those who come with a doctrine or message of hate or dismissal in respect of the human rights of the people of Gaza.”
“UNICEF posted that the children - the starving, starved and dying children of Gaza - are too emaciated and exhausted to cry out. It behoves us as parliamentarians and this Seanad to use every opportunity we have. I say with respect to the Cathaoirleach and my colleagues across the House and Government that we cannot let those issues - trade, technology and others - become the only things on the agenda and let the fact of a genocide and let pass us by the fact it is a choice not to let food into Gaza at a time when the population is dying. We must cry out and speak out. We cannot justify silence. I urge a redoubling of our diplomatic efforts in these matters.”
“This is from somebody who wears his IDF uniform in the commission, has past pushed for legislation to allow for more weapons, has called for more destruction of infrastructure and, when challenged about the deaths of children in Gaza, said they are not innocent civilians. I urge real consideration. This is a moment of diplomatic urgency. Last week, the occasion when we had this diplomatic visit was the moment the World Food Programme told us that food ran out in Gaza. The food from the World Food Programme ran out. It had no more food to give. Every opportunity must be taken. These are urgent moments. We should not contribute to a normalisation of a new narrative that some countries are able to ignore international law and colonise if it makes them more comfortable.”
“Right now, we have a new doctrine of discovery - a new doctrine of colonialism - that is sweeping across the world in a wave of justification of colonialism. One of the clearest examples is the justification for the genocide that is taking place in Gaza and the idea that one might be displacing an entire population or letting it starve to advance one's own interests and security. It is regrettable that at a time when ideas and words matter, we had in our Seanad somebody who should be challenged. In his tweets, he spoke about his visit to our Seanad. There was a conversation about trade and matters of defence.”
“He also spoke about peace - the work of peace, which has been neglected constantly in a new narrative of war that is sweeping across the world - and the rights of refugees - not as numbers but as men, women, children, families and people who are suffering. The one I want to highlight today, because it is one we all need to remember, is his repudiation of the doctrine of discovery. This is something from the 1500s. It was the doctrine that suggested and underpinned the argument that there is any justification for colonialism, the taking of land from indigenous peoples, its occupation and their destruction. For centuries, this was the underpinning for colonialism. He repudiated it. I acknowledge these ideas because they are ideas that we in our different ways continue to take up.”
“The Leader has already proposed the motion in respect of Pope Francis. There has been a lot of discussion of him and his nature as a person. I do not agree with all of the church's teachings in many areas and have challenged the role the church has played in terms of the Irish State. Pope Francis's quotes and messages are really important contributions to thought in our time and the moral and policy space. He said that capitalism without limits create pain without limits. He said, "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?" He talked about the inequality of those issues. In Laudato si' , importantly, he spoke about the groaning earth, the challenge of interconnectedness and climate change as urgent.”
“The language in section 3 could be strengthened a little to include some of the references to "reasonable inference" contained in section 2. However, it is really good and straightforward legislation. I hope the Government will support it and lead on progressing it.”
“A crucial point is that the Bill is not simply about punishment; it is also about prevention. The very fact of putting this legislation on the Statute Book, thereby criminalising advertisements and solicitation, will disrupt the cycle of exploitation. International evidence shows that explicit bans have reduced such offers by more than 60% within two years in France and Portugal, where similar laws were passed. This is about prevention and sending a signal as to what is not acceptable. The Bill is only a necessary first step. We need a wide range of other measures, including victim support services, public awareness campaigns and more. Crucially, we must address the housing crisis which creates these vulnerabilities in the first place. Progressing the Bill is an important first step.”
“Current legislation treats these cases as very minor offences under tenant-landlord disputes. As we know, there is a wide range of such disputes and these particular cases join a long backlog. Such activity is not treated as sexual exploitation, which is what it is. Without specific prohibitions, victims do not see a clear path to justice. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that only two such cases have reached court in the past decade, with both being dismissed due to insufficient evidence. The current laws are not sufficient to address this issue. These prosecutions are very remote under the current legislation and systems, which the Minister has acknowledged. If the State cannot guarantee enforcement under the current law, then the law needs to be strengthened by way of the Bill that is before us.”
“Working together and with the co-operation of the Government, either by bringing forward its own legislation or, as I would suggest, taking this Bill, working with it and perhaps lending some Government time to that, there is no reason we, as an Oireachtas, cannot deliver legislation before next September and before we see another round of shocking stories unfold. The Bill imposes fines of up to €50,000 on landlords advertising or soliciting sex-for-rent arrangements. It closes legal loopholes that have allowed predators to operate with impunity to date. It recognises that exploitation will not always begin with advertisements but can come through manipulative private messages after a seemingly normal rental inquiry. An argument has been made that existing laws should suffice, but they do not.”
“The Government did not oppose the previous proposals put forward by Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, but those Bills are lodged on Second Stage. There should be a signal, at this third attempt, that we will actually move on this matter. This is a very nuanced and carefully worded Bill. It addresses only part of the problem, namely, advertisements. As an Oireachtas, we should set a collective target that the law be changed before next September, when another round of young people will be seeking accommodation, with students coming from all corners of Ireland, and, indeed, from across the world, to every location in which there is a university. We should have a very clear legislative signal on the Statute Book by next September that any attempt to exploit those young people will not be acceptable.”
“The National Women's Council of Ireland reported last year that sex-for-rent proposals had become a commonplace feature of Ireland's rental market, with predators targeting those facing homelessness or with precarious immigration status. Despite this level of incidence, Ireland does not have a specific law against this type of exploitation. People have praised the important reporting done by the Irish Examiner . When that newspaper highlighted these practices in 2021, there was a promise of urgent action. We are now at the third legislative attempt to deal with the issue. Before focusing on the details of the Bill and outlining why it is important, I urge the Minister not just to not oppose the Bill.”
“It is coercion and abuse that thrives in the shadows of a broken housing system. The failure of successive governments to act for years leaves some renters particularly vulnerable, especially women, migrants and students, including international students, who are at the intersection of migrants and students and do not always have family networks and other supports to fall back on. These people are being left at the mercy of landlords who exploit desperation. A 2023 survey by the Irish Council for International Students found that 5% of female international students had been directly offered accommodation in exchange for sex or had seen such advertisements. These are not isolated incidents.”
“I welcome the Minister. I commend the Cross-Party Group of Senators Harmon, Cosgrove, Noonan and Stephenson on bringing forward this legislation. In particular, I commend Senator Harmon, who highlighted this issue in her previous role and brought attention to it right across the political spectrum. It is a positive sign that she has followed through on those threads and issues now that she has the opportunity to do so in the Oireachtas. This welcome legislation builds on Bills that were previously tabled by both the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin. It reflects a grim reality in Ireland's housing crisis, namely, the exploitation of vulnerable renters through sex-for-rent arrangements. It seeks to criminalise what is a predatory practice. To be clear, offering accommodation in exchange for sexual services is not a transaction.”
“I move amendment No. 8: In page 33, line 3, after “rules” to insert the following: “with the exception of offshore service vessels engaged in offshore industrial activity related to the hydrocarbon energy sector”.”
“There may well be kinds of service vessel that are slightly different from those we have had previously and that are designed to service the liquefied natural gas industry. In those circumstances, I want to be assured it will not be said that it is a new kind of vessel and should be exempted from the rules for now. That is my fear. The Minister of State has informed us of a reporting structure relating to one category of exemptions but I am not assured. It may be misleading that his notes continually say this is not about tankers. We have said from the very beginning it is not. That is the 2010 legislation. We are talking here about service vessels for the hydrocarbon industry which, if the Government is successful in its U-turn on this issue, may include liquefied natural gas. That is why safety concerns are paramount.”
“I am not talking about the tankers but about the vessels that will service the tankers and such other LNG infrastructure as may be introduced, but I hope will not be. That is explicitly clear. Ultimately, we have heard there is not a willingness to give guarantees that this category of vessel will not be allowed exemptions. I accept the Minister of State's bona fides. It is good to hear there is a notification process where exemptions are applied. I will probably still press the amendment but that gives me some assurance in relation to the safety convention, if it is reflected in the rules, which we hope it will be. It is being said there may be new kinds of vessel and we want to provide a transition period. However, we are talking about a new and very dangerous industry that it is proposed to introduce to Ireland.”
“I have been clear on multiple occasions that I am not seeking to legislate for LNG tankers. I am aware LNG tankers are covered. In fact, they are covered by the stronger provisions in the Merchant Shipping Act 2010. It is still not clear why in 2010 the Government was able to be definitive and talk about "shall", yet, a few years later, it has become so concerned with a different kind of practicality that it has been diluted to "may". I have been explicit about what is included in this Bill, namely, service vessels engaged - this is the language of the Bill - in offshore industrial activity related to the hydrocarbon energy sector. That is the fossil fuel energy sector, which includes LNG. It is the service vessels that may be involved in, as I think I outlined, the construction, repair, servicing and so on of LNG infrastructure.”
“necessary in order to implement the provisions of Chapter XV". If there a vessel to which Chapter XV does not apply, it will not be caught in my amendment. My amendment will only capture situations where there are rules that are necessary for the implementation of Chapter XV. Surely there should be no exemption from such rules.”
“8 specifically focuses on the industrial activity, including the construction, maintenance, servicing and repair of offshore LNG facilities associated with the hydrocarbon energy sector. I would like if the Minister of State could specifically answer whether he will agree that there will be no exemptions from the rules for the service vessels involved in this industry, and second, the other questions around there being no exemption from those rules that are necessary to implement the provisions of Chapter XV of the safety convention. I would suggest, because on Report Stage we do not get to come in very often, that it is not sufficient to say Chapter XV of the SOLAS convention does not apply to all vessels. In that case, my amendment would not be a problem because it relates to the "rules...”
“We are talking about a fuel that has a quicker and more intense impact on emissions coming from a country that has said it no longer cares about emissions at all. That is what is being proposed to come into Ireland and Europe. In that context, where there is a whole lot of not caring happening, it is very important that at a minimum we show that we care about the safety of the immediate environment and of the communities who will be affected. There is a reason why Ireland brought a ban on fracking on our own soil, even though we now propose to import the gas fracked elsewhere. Section 46(9) refers to "a class or classes" of service vessels. Amendment No. 6, as I said, is related to amendment No. 27 from Committee Stage. Amendment No. 7 I have outlined. Amendment No.”
“Just yesterday, Donald Trump suggested that Europe could avoid tariffs if countries began to buy something that is, in effect, asking people to burn our future in order to appease the United States today. That is what we are talking about, given that LNG as a massive accelerant of climate change. The United States is the largest LNG exporter in the world today and they have left the Paris Agreement. The liquefied natural gas and fracked gas that is being extracted in the United States is in no way being moderated in terms of its impact on climate change. They are out of the Paris Agreement. This is directly contributing to an intensification of climate change and is in a situation where they are not even going to be bothering to measure that impact or in any way seek to mitigate or cancel that anymore.”
“8 specifies that the exemptions would not apply to "offshore service vessels engaged in offshore industrial activity related to the hydrocarbon energy sector". The Minister of State has stated that from his perspective, this Bill is really just about offshore wind and that the fossil fuel industry and the LNG sector are not the key focus of the legislation. They are a key danger, however, so it should be reasonable to accept my amendment No. 8, which provides that any exemptions from the application of the rules will not be available to "offshore service vessels engaged in offshore industrial activity" servicing the fossil fuel industry. The provision I am concerned about includes the potential exclusion of vessels associated, for example, with the construction of offshore LNG facilities from safety rules as laid out under section 46.”