Clare County Council has become the country’s first local authority to move to alter its county development plan to ban fracking
At their monthly meeting last night councillors voted unanimously to amend the development plan to put a halt to all intrusive shale gas extraction practices and called on the Government to implement a nationwide ban.
There was standing room only in the public gallery of the council chambers last evening, when over 50 campaigners attended a presentation and discussion on fracking.
The process sees highly-pressurised drilling techniques used to extract gas from shale and it’s claimed could damage agriculture, public health and tourism
Councillors called on Environment Minister Pat Rabbitte to ban fracking, and voted to amend the county development plan – those in attendance were pleased
The Council’s executive had recommended no change to the county development plan, which only came into effect last summer, but local representatives rejected this view.
The document will now be amended to explicitly prohibit fracking from taking place in Clare
Large onshore areas of the county’s coastline are potentially lucrative for companies seeking to extract gas in this way, and it could have led to a significant jobs boost.
However. Kilrush Councillor Gabriel Keating feels safer industries should be explored instead.
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