The members of the Environmental Policy and Agricultural Strategic Policy SPC of Mayo County Council this week heard from a delegation from No Fracking Ireland, an umbrella group that opposes fracking on the whole island of Ireland. Fracking sees gas exploration companies injecting highly pressurised fracking fluid to create fractures in rock to extract natural gas from the rock.
Leah Doherty from No Fracking Ireland outlined her group’s fears for the potential environmental consequences for Ireland if fracking is allowed to go on in the country, and encouraged the councillors to include a provision in their next development plan to outlaw fracking in the county.
Chairperson of the committee Cllr Peter Flynn thanked the group for their presentation along with the other members of the committee. Having previously heard a presentation from the Department of the Environment officials on fracking, the members agreed to ask representatives from the one of the companies involved in fracking to address them to get all sides of the debate before they made a decision.
