An incoherent energy policy

Politically convenient options

Sir, – You report that the Government-commissioned review of energy security did not consider the option of a permanent LNG terminal, as the importation of fracked gas is in contradiction to Government policy (“Friends of the Earth hails energy security review as ‘death knell of Shannon LNG’”, News, September 19th). Given the UK has no such policy, is a significant LNG importer, and we import circa 70 per cent of our gas from the UK network, does Government policy mean that we will only use fracked LNG that has been imported to the UK first, before being re-exported to Ireland? Likewise, with the ongoing construction of an interconnector to the French grid, it seems our nuclear policy is to rule out any domestic production while actively promoting its import. It is disappointing that we seem to have used our existing incoherent energy policy to frame the terms of reference of the long-awaited energy security report so that only politically convenient options were considered. – Yours, etc,

PHILIP WHEATLEY,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.