February 14, 2025 View all news Taoiseach ignores ongoing Departmental energy security analysis in effort to appease Trump.Friends of the Earth has criticised Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments regarding the possible development of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal as “ignoring climate and energy security realities in his seeming rush to appease Trump”. The Irish Independent reported that the Taoiseach "has instructed officials in the Department of the Environment, which looks after the energy portfolio, to get the project moving". The article also referred to earlier comments to RTÉ that an LNG facility is envisaged. Jerry Mac Evilly Head of Policy in Friends of the Earth has said:“The Taoiseach talking up of LNG now is at best misguided and at worst a sign of rushed, political manoeuvring that will serve to undermine Ireland’s climate and energy security.“It beggars belief that the Taoiseach failed to mention that the Government very recently contracted consultants to look beyond LNG as a back-up option for existing gas pipelines.”While previous research in 2022 as part of the ongoing Energy Security Review had noted a state-controlled LNG terminal - not a commercial supply terminal - as a preferred option for a gas reserve, in 2024 the Department of energy and climate commissioned further independent analysis on zero-carbon back-up options by Cambridge Economic Policy Associates [1].This new research was needed because the Department noted developments in renewables, battery storage and interconnection together with the planned reduction in gas demand in the 2030s changed the equation on LNG, particularly given that the analysis by GNI had indicated an LNG terminal would take longer and cost more than originally expected. Mr Mac Evilly continued:“The changing energy security options likely makes LNG infrastructure an expensive white elephant, as well as a pollution time-bomb. So it’s good that DECC has commissioned further research to analyse the options.“The failure of the Taoiseach to acknowledge this suggests his comments may well be more about ingratiating himself with Trump rather than addressing real energy security considerations. The Trump administration is continuing to push for exports of LNG to Europe based on the destructive extraction of fracked gas in US communities.“We also have a situation where the Taoiseach is making pro-LNG comments and ignoring promises in his own Programme for Government. The new Programme specifically commits to radically reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. “Building an LNG terminal means more use of polluting, expensive fossil gas for decades to come. Creating this reliance on US fracked gas imports and LNG does not have any place in the transition to a fossil free future which the state is committed to and risks undermining Ireland’s energy security.“One would also expect the Taoiseach to be alive to the fact that more reliance on expensive gas infrastructure, likely to costs hundreds of millions in public money, will result in other major pressures, not least a new levy on customers’ bills - and this would come at the very time the Government is talking about removing energy credits and being lambasted for having the highest electricity prices in Europe.”ENDSNotes:[1] https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2025-01-22/88/speech/301/