Sinn Féin called to support Climate Emergency Measure Bill

Sinn Féin held a joint press conference with the Green Party and People before Profit to support the Climate Emergency Measures Bill.

The Bill seeks to end the extraction of fossil fuels and stop the issuing of any new licences for exploration.

Speaking afterwards, former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said: “In what was clearly a snub to the growing public and international demands for action on climate change, the Department of Climate Action (DCCAE) last week granted consent to CNOOC Petroleum Europe (a subsidiary of the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company) for an exploratory oil and gas well in the Porcupine Basin off our south west coast. This new licence allows for drilling in an area where CNOOC and ExxonMobil already hold licences to 2033 to explore for oil and gas."

Adams added: “The decision by the government to grant oil and gas licences flies in the face of the public demand for action on climate change and in particular for an end to the use of fossil fuels. The further decision to impose a money message on the Climate Emergency Measures Bill means that it cannot be progressed, because the government claims it would have a financial cost to the exchequer."

Sinn Féin supports this Bill. "We also have a climate action Bill on Microgeneration in the Oireachtas system which the government has also been determined to bury from day one and has successfully delayed progress on" said Adams, adding: "The Sinn Féin Bill would enable individuals, families, and communities to produce their own renewable energy for their own consumption and to then sell any excess energy back to the grid for others to use. We want to give power back to the people."

The Sinn Féin Bill has cross-party support and is also backed by a broad range of climate action groups such as Friends of the Earth and Climate Chaos. "We are determined - said Adams - to challenge the government on this and to press for it to be passed into law. Sinn Féin also strongly opposes the handing out of anymore oil or gas drilling/exploration licences by the government.”