A Sinn Féin Mayo county council election candidate is calling on Fine Gael and Labour to make their position on fracking clear ahead of polling day on May 23.
John Sheahan, a candidate in the Ballina Electoral Area, said some farmers in east Mayo are concerned about the possibility of fracking in the vicinity of their farmlands in the future.
Fracking is a controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale rock.
“At a recent meeting of Mayo County Council, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail combined together to defeat a Sinn Féin motion which called for this practice to be banned in Mayo,” said Mr Sheahan. ”Fracking will have serious environmental and health implications for urban and rural communities living in the vicinity of fracking along the Moy Basin, and will impact negatively on farming, fishing and tourism.”
Mr Sheahan said the failure of Fine Gael and Labour to make their position on fracking clear can only lead to the conclusion that they follow in the previous Fianna Fail government’s footsteps in favouring the practice. He said this was “despite major concerns being expressed by farmers in the Swinford and Charlestown area of east Mayo, whose lands have been designated for hydraulic fracking”.
