Press release – Issued by the Stop Shannon LNG Coalition
Clare LNG: emergency reserve or fracked gas supply for data centres?
– Government calling it an emergency reserve; CRU warns that data centres are driving the need for new gas entry capacity –
Campaigners from the Stop Shannon LNG coalition say recent developments have clearly shown that the Clare LNG terminal is being developed to import US fracked gas to meet new data centre demand. They called on the Government to come clean about the real justification for the Clare LNG terminal and its plans to import US fracked gas.
Campaigners have long argued that Clare LNG is really about creating a new gas entry point into the country. Now, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), in its recent proposed direction, has forecast that total gas system entry capacity could be in a 9% to 18% deficit, if the 17 planned data centres are connected and no further gas entry points are added. The CRU stated in its analysis that “gas emergencies could be triggered on an increasingly frequent basis in the absence of additional entry capacity infrastructure.” [1,2]
This contrasts with the Government’s stated justification for the Clare LNG terminal, which is saying it’s needed in case the two gas interconnectors were damaged [3]. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has specifically identified Russia as being the threat to these two gas interconnectors [4].
“Why are the government telling the public that the Clare LNG terminal would be a strategic gas reserve, when all evidence suggests that it’s simply a new entry point for a fracked gas supply for data centres?” stated Sinéad Sheehan from Futureproof Clare, which is a member of the Stop Shannon LNG coalition.
“Last July, the Development (Strategic Gas Reserve) Act 2026 was enacted, giving Minister Darragh O’Brien the power to approve the Clare LNG terminal and bypass An Coimisiún Pleanála. This extraordinary planning route was taken even though the rules governing how the terminal will operate have still not been published” [5] said Eamon de Staic from Gluaiseacht, also a member of the Stop Shannon LNG coalition.
Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien and Gas Networks Ireland have recently met a delegation from the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM), which included New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham [6,7]. Following the meeting, IPANM said: “This is precisely the kind of mission the industry should be engaged in. The world doesn’t need less natural gas — it needs more of it, from reliable partners who can deliver. New Mexico is that partner.”
This also follows US President Donald Trump calling on Ireland in Washington last St Patrick’s Day to sign a deal to import US LNG, saying: “I’m hopeful that we will soon reach a deal on Liquified Natural Gas and that will bring down your deficit a lot, so I think you have to make this deal.”[8]
Stop Shannon LNG coalition campaigner Sam Moran stated:
“LNG produces 33% higher greenhouse gas emissions than coal and we estimate that using LNG in Ireland could produce double the greenhouse gas emissions of the pipeline gas we currently import. It is insane that the government are considering bowing to the demands of Trump and the tech industry and importing this fracked gas in the midst of a climate crisis.“[9]
ENDS
For more details see: www.stopshannonlng.ie
The Stop Shannon LNG coalition is a group of environmental groups formed to fight the planned construction of a fracked gas import terminal in Ireland
LINKS:
[1] CRU Publishes Proposed Direction on Interruptible Gas Connections
https://www.cru.ie/about-us/news/cru-publishes-proposed-direction-on-interruptible-gas-connections/
“If substantial appropriate measures are not taken by the CRU in relation to the existing gas connection policy, it is estimated that existing headroom in the system would be eroded more quickly than new capacity can be delivered onto the system, and, in the longer-term, gas emergencies could be triggered on an increasingly frequent basis in the absence of additional entry capacity infrastructure.”
“GNI … determined that should all 17 Data Centres connect on a firm basis, there would be sufficient capacity for these customers on an average winter peak event, however the total system entry capacity could be in a 9% deficit by 2033 in the event of 1-in-50 year peak day conditions.In a risk adjusted version, the deficit is forecast to increase from 9% to 18% in the case of a 1-in-50 severe winter peak event.”
[2] Data centres in Ireland to be offered cut-price gas in return for possible supply disruption – Caroline O’Doherty – Irish Times
[3] Government approves development of State-led strategic gas emergency reserve – Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment
[4] Dáil Éireann debate – Tuesday, 17 Feb 2026
“The emergency reserve capacity for LNG is a security issue. It is wrong of Deputy Murphy to say that it flies in the face of the climate change agenda. We simply have to have security. If anything were to happen to the gas interconnectors, our economy would not sustain a week or two… We are not going to build interconnection just like that. We have interconnection but there is a problem with it. There are threats to it. Guess who is a threat to it? Russia. I know Deputy Murphy probably does not believe that. There is a naivety in his approach to Russia. He always sees the US as the aggressor.”
[5] Development (Strategic Gas Reserve) Act 2026
[6] Ireland ‘seriously considering’ importing fracked US gas for LNG reserve in Clare – Ronan McGreevy
[7] IPANM, Delegation Explore New Mexico’s LNG As Answer For Ireland
[8] Trump pressuring Ireland to buy US fracked gas
[9] Importing and Using LNG in Ireland Could Produce Double the Greenhouse Gas
Emissions of the Pipeline Gas that we currently Import – StopShannonLNG
stopshannonlng.ie/lng-versus-pipeline-gas/