Opinion

Fracking could be last straw for causeway's status

THE Irish News (May 24) reported that Unesco has called for a halt to the proposed £100 million Runkerry golf resort which is to be built near the Giant's Causeway. The causeway is Northern Ireland's only Unesco world heritage site and is therefore a very special and important place. Unesco also criticised the fact that it was not kept fully informed about the development by government "prior to any decisions being taken that are difficult to reverse".

Unesco would therefore want to know about Petroleum Licence (PL3/10), which was issued by Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (Deti) in 2011. Why? Because the Giant's Causeway is included in the licence area and because the issuing of this licence is something that may very well lead to decisions that are not just difficult to reverse but impossible to reverse. The licence may lead to the Department of the Enviroment allowing the energy company Rathlin Energy to frack near the Giant's Causeway.

The Irish News reported that so far Unesco has stopped short of threatening to withdraw heritage status from the Giant's Causeway because of the golfing development. Their stance though on fracking close to world heritage sites should send out a word of warning. I doubt if Deti informed Unesco about the issuing of the Petroleum Licence in 2011 or if Deti/DoE have updated them on any developments since then. I believe it is therefore incumbent on us as good citizens to pass this information on to Unesco before irreversible decisions are made which may result in the loss of the much coveted world heritage status.

MAJELLA McCARRON

Belfast BT6