Speaking from the pre-G8 rally in Belfast today (Saturday 15 June 2013), where Friends of the Earth campaigners drew attention to the threat fracking poses to local communities and the environment, James Orr, Friends of the Earth’s Northern Ireland Director, said:

"G8 nations should be taking the lead in tackling climate change, instead of driving forward policies that keep their economies hooked on dirty, damaging and increasingly costly fossil fuels.

"People across the UK, including Northern Ireland, are rightly concerned about the threat fracking poses to their communites, local environment and the global climate.

"It's time to put the long term future of the planet first - and develop a clean energy future we can all afford."

ENDS

Notes to the editors:

1. Friends of the Earth campaigners are taking part in today's Belfast G8 march and rally to draw attention to the threats posed by fracking. They will be using a variety of props to represent a river polluted by a frack pad.  This will involve over 100m of blue cloth, along with a 4m high “frack pad.”

2. Northern Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) has already offered licences for fracking in counties Fermanagh, Derry and Antrim, and is in the process of issuing many more. 

3. Friends of the Earth briefing on the G8.

4. Briefing on Northern Ireland and G8 economics.