PRESS RELEASE – FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT – THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 2026
FIE warns Strategic Gas Bill undermines energy security and climate law
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) has today lodged a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy, warning that the Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Bill 2025 risks weakening Ireland’s energy security while creating serious legal vulnerabilities under EU law and human-rights obligations. [1]
The submission, signed by Tony Lowes on behalf of FIE, challenges the Bill’s central claim that new fossil gas infrastructure delivers security in an increasingly unstable world.
“Energy security in 2026 means resilience — not deeper dependence on imported fossil fuels,” said Mr Lowes. “This Bill repackages risk instead of reducing it.”
FIE argues that accelerating LNG infrastructure does not protect Ireland from geopolitical instability, price shocks or supply disruption. Instead, it locks the State into volatile global markets and long-lived fossil infrastructure whose impacts extend far beyond any claimed “emergency”.
Ireland’s own energy policy framework, the organisation notes, identifies renewables, demand reduction, storage and interconnection, not fossil expansion, as the foundations of long-term energy security. Energy security must therefore be resilience in practice, not vulnerability in disguise.
“Calling new gas infrastructure ‘temporary’ does not change its lifespan, emissions or strategic consequences,” said Mr Lowes. “Lock-in is a structural fact, not a rhetorical one.”
The submission also identifies serious legal flaws in the Bill, warning that it attempts to deem compliance with climate law while disapplying planning safeguards and compressing environmental assessments.
“By legislating away scrutiny, the Bill effectively punches a hole in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act,” said Mr Lowes. “Climate law exists to prevent short-term pressures from creating long-term harm. Legitimacy and accountability are themselves components of resilience.”
FIE highlights recent European court rulings confirming that governments cannot lawfully approve new fossil fuel infrastructure without a rigorous, project-specific assessment of climate compatibility, including consistency with the 1.5°C temperature limit and human-rights obligations.
The organisation is urging the Committee to require substantial amendments before the Bill proceeds.
“This is not a choice between climate responsibility and energy security,” said Mr Lowes. “It is a choice between short-term fixes that entrench dependency with consequences for both energy security and the climate, and long-term strategies that reduce both supply risks and climate impacts.”
ENDS
[1] Submission https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/images/Infrastructure/FIE_Submission_on_Strategic_Gas_Emergency_Reserve_Bill_2025.pdf