An LNG terminal in Clare in the middle of a climate crisis?

December 2025

A LNG terminal in Clare in the middle of a climate crisis? - Open letter to Minister Darragh O'Brien

Dear Minister O’Brien

We the undersigned individuals and groups are writing to you in relation to the climate, energy and environmental emergencies faced by the Irish people that will be exacerbated by recent problematic decisions of your department.

Last month, you and other Irish delegates travelled to Brazil to the 30th COP conference, presumably for the purpose of participating in global decision making aimed at tackling climate change. During COP and while in Bélem, your party leader, Taoiseach Michael Martin, allegedly suggested that Ireland’s investment in LNG cannot happen quickly enough.   The conference finished on 22nd November and sure enough, four days later on 26th November, it was announced that Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), had selected a site in Cahiracon, near Kildysart, Co. Clare to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in the Shannon Estuary.

The timing of this announcement was particularly disappointing given that a national climate demonstration had just taken place in Dublin on 15th November with the intention of sending a clear message to our leaders at COP that we do not want to have new fossil fuel infrastructure investment in Ireland, especially not LNG. Approximately 4,000 people took to the streets to send that message to you, but it appears that you and the political party you represent were not listening to our demand, so we repeat it here: LNG, don’t you dare, Shannon, Cork or anywhere.

In March earlier this year, your department announced its support for a new LNG terminal, a costly investment in fossil fuel infrastructure. The basis for your decision, according to the governmental press release, is “energy security”. However, the proposed Clare Shannon LNG terminal would be highly likely to start importing fracked gas from the US and elsewhere, locking us into one of the most destructive supplies of energy in the world and undermining our legally binding climate obligations. Neither this proposal nor the Shannon LNG proposal in Kerry are about bringing security to our energy supply at all.

The government decision to import fracked gas into Ireland is only of benefit to powerful political and corporate figures, and the harms caused by this decision at home and abroad do not appear to be important to you or the Government. LNG is expensive, dirty and unsafe. Importing LNG would result in 33% higher emissions than coal because of the combination of energy consumed in sourcing, transporting, regasifying and use. LNG will be far more costly, and far less secure than the current gas arrangements Ireland has, where fuel is piped from the North Sea. Ireland banned fracking in 2017 on the basis of adverse public health outcomes.  Ireland’s responsibilities under international law, including the recent International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, emphasises state responsibility for preventing fossil fuel-related harm. We do not wish to be complicit in public health harms from fracking in the US and elsewhere. 

Energy bills for households have been rising because of increasing demand for Irish energy, driven by the increasing numbers of data centres. The industry set to benefit the most from a LNG terminal in the Shannon Estuary is the data centre industry, who use a disproportionate amount of energy and employ relatively few people, so please do not pretend this decision is about jobs. The cost of living for Irish residents is set to increase even more if we rely on LNG importing American fracked gas, due to capacity payments the government would make to a LNG terminal for supplying energy, construction costs recouped through energy bills, and because of fines that Ireland will need to pay if we rely more on fossil fuels. Investing in a LNG terminal will result in further fuel poverty and the diversion of taxpayer funds that could otherwise be invested in developing indigenous energy infrastructures.

Ireland continues to be recognised in Europe as a climate laggard, with the second highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions out of the EU 27 countries. While the rest of Europe reduced its emissions by an average of around 18% since global climate agreements on climate in 1990, Ireland reduced its emissions by less than 5.4%. We clearly are not doing our fair share in relation to the climate and this is not because of a lack of climate policy support. Recent EPA surveys suggest that over 80% of people in Ireland would support better climate policy – but good climate policy can only come about with good political leadership, not leadership that proposes to build a fracked gas import terminal at a time of climate crisis.

You have recently indicated that the government will try to advance new legislation to allow the Clare LNG terminal to be built under accelerated implementation, which may mean less legislative opportunity for public participation in this decision. However, we want to send you the message that individuals environmental groups who have signed this letter will be engaging with and collectively resisting this poor decision-making by the government. 

Yours etc

Link to sign letter:https://forms.gle/4qATrN8MsB3Mhw4v5

15th December 2025
Futureproof Clare Press Release - 15th December 2025

Over 50 environmental groups and 500 individuals declare opposition to a proposed Clare LNG terminal

Over 50 environmental groups and approximately 500 individuals have signed an open letter sent to Minister for Environment, Climate and Energy, Darragh O’Brien on 15th December to indicate opposition to the recently proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Cahiracon, near KIldysart, Co. Clare.

The letter was initiated by environmental group Futureproof Clare (FPC) who have campaigned for several years against the importation of fracked gas in the Shannon Estuary, as well as against other significant developments in the surrounding area including the expansion of Aughinish Alumina and the proposed Ennis Data Centre. 

Group signatories of the open letter include local campaign groups, such as Fracking Free Clare, Stop Shannon LNG, and Safety B4 LNG. National group signatures included Friends of the Earth, Uplift and Irish Doctors for the Environment. International groups also signed such as Scientist Rebellion in France and Peru. Many of the individual signatories are from concerned locals from the Shannon Estuary area as well as further afield in Clare. A number of TD’s and councillors from Labour, Social Democrats, Independent and People Before Profit added their names to the open letter.

“The Shannon Estuary is already under environmental pressure from extractive and polluting industries, including Aughinish Alumina and Limerick Cement Factory.  The proposed LNG terminal will only add to these pressures and threaten hopes for the development of sustainable tourism in the area,” said Sinéad Sheehan, Scariff-based member of Futureproof Clare.

“Futureproof Clare are extremely concerned about the proposed LNG terminal at Cahiracon, and we want to make sure that Minister O’Brien understands that there is significant opposition to this development. We expect a proper consultation process that allows for sufficient local input as well as national engagement” said Tom Spillane, a 4th year student of Planning and Environmental Management at TU Dublin, residing in Lahinch, Co.Clare.

Several anti-fracking campaign groups from the United States also signed the letter, such as  Protect PT (Penn-Trafford), FracTracker Alliance and Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pennsylvania and indigenous group, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians..

Gillian Graber of Protect PT said “Our community in the United States, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania is one of the places where this LNG is being extracted. Our communities in Southwest Pennsylvania experience health impacts from the extraction of this gas. Not only is it a climate issue, but in our communities, it is a human health issue. Our children are suffering and our state is lobbied by the oil and gas industry to ensure that their business interests are put above our health. If our law makers don't uphold our constitutional rights to clean air and water and a healthy environment, we ask that leadership in Ireland step up as a moral responsibility to the health of the humans on this planet we call home.”

Orla Gaynor from Irish Doctors for the Environment commented: “The construction of an LNG terminal in Co. Clare, or anywhere in Ireland would cause significant harm to public health, both in the short and long term. Such a measure would contradict Ireland's emission targets for 2030 and we cannot afford to continue business as usual and act in inertia. Fossil fuels are a health hazard and affect every system of the body. As healthcare professionals we have a duty of care to the health of our population and as such, strongly condemn the project's construction in the interest of public health and wellbeing.”

Cllr Eddie Mitchell, member of Stop Shannon LNG coalition and spokesperson for the Love Leitrim anti-fracking group said “Just like in Clare,Leitrim people know the dangers associated with fracking. A big question is being asked of the people of Clare now - Importing fracked gas to meet the demand of future Data Centres at the expense of affected communities is a form of attack against people living in the Clare Gas Basin. If you accept this fracked gas import terminal, will you accept fracking in your own future? If you decide to stand on your feet you will likely find Leitrim people standing beside you."