#Oil&Gas - Cher has backed a bill to ban offshore drilling for oil and gas in Irish waters that passed its first vote in the Dáil yesterday (Thursday 8 February).
Using the hashtag #HellToTheYes, the pop music legend threw her support behind the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill after an appeal on Twitter by Green Party Dáil researcher Sinéad Mercier.
The so-called ‘Climate Emergency’ bill seeks to end the granting of offshore licences for oil and gas exploration or drilling, and would make Ireland the fourth country in the world to introduce such a ban.
— Cher (@cher) February 8, 2018
Oil industry representatives say the bill in its current form will create “significant degrees of uncertainty” in the industry, according to the Irish Examiner. The locally unpopular Kish Bank prospect in Dublin Bay is among those that would be affected should the bill go further.
The Solidarity-People Before Profit bill passed by 78 to 48 on a day that saw the Government doubly defeated as opposition TDs rallied to approve a review of tendering for the National Broadband Plan, days after eir announced its withdrawal from the project.