County to send letter to Port

Both local authorities in Cork are to write to the Port of Cork in a bid to stop any work which will enable the importation of fracked gas.

Cork County Council passed a motion this week which will see councillors write to the Port of Cork, as well as Richard Bruton Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment and comes two weeks after Cork City Council passed a similar motion.

The letters will urge them to cease any work that would enable the importation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) extracted using hydraulic fracturing in Cork Harbour.

In 2017 the Port of Cork signed a memorandum of understanding with Next Decade, a US company, which could see the importation of gas from US fracking companies through the port.

The motion was proposed by the Green Party at both the county and city council meetings.

Speaking after the vote on Monday, Green Party Cllr Alan O’Connor claimed: “This gas, which would be obtained through fracking, would have a huge impact on the health and day-to-day lives of the people living in relative proximity to the fracking, as well as the climate globally through the addition of powerful greenhouse gases to the atmosphere via things like methane leaks.”

The motion followed a similar motion in the City Council, jointly proposed by the four Green Party councillors in that chamber, that also asked for the Port of Cork to end its memorandum of understanding with US company NextDecade. The Port of Cork was recently contacted by the Cork Independent but a spokesperson said that it would not be commenting on the matter.