Irish gas wells 'won't affect water quality'

An energy exploration specialist vying to drill as many as 500 wells in north-west Ireland claims that its operations will not impact upon water quality in the region.

Tamboran, an Australian company which has been awarded a licence for preliminary onshore natural gas exploration, said the resources in the Lough Allen basin could be worth billions of euros.

However, hundreds have attended public meetings to discuss the huge swathe of Irish landscape that could be affected by pollution from fracking - a controversial natural resource extraction technique.

Taisce chairman Charles Stanley-Smith has already called for a ban on the method as by-products from the process have been shown to contain carcinogens.

"[Fracking] was also linked to leaks of radioactive gases, contamination of water supplies, reproduction problems and damage to aquatic life," Mr Stanley-Smith told the Oireachtas Environment Committee.

Recently, Greenpeace opposed plans for the extraction of natural gas in the Costa del Sol region of Spain, claiming the move could potentially damage water quality in the surrounding area.

Posted by Joseph Hutton