Fermanagh Green Party member hits back over Luddite claims

Tanya Jones, Green Party candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Westminster seat, hits back at former Environment minister over comments about her and other activists' opposition to fracking. The prominent local Green says it's those who propose fracking and burning more fossil fuels who are living in the past.

A prominent local Green Party activist has hit back at Sammy Wilson.

That's after the East Antrim MP dubbed those who opposed fracking as 'green luddites'. He made the comments as he welcomed government proposals to pay households ten thousand pounds in the event of fracking projects were green-lit in their areas.

Tanya Jones, a Green Party member from Fermanagh says it's the former Environment Minister who's living in the past.

Speaking to Q radio news, she said it was Sammy Wilson who was "cling[ing] on to the outmoded way of doing things" and not her.

"Fossil fuels are the past. When Sammy Wilson is talking about luddites - if a luddite is someone who clings on to the outmoded way of doing things and isn't prepared to look at new technologies - then it certainly isn't us who are the luddites," she said.

The former candidate for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat at Westminster says she remains steadfastly opposed to fracking in her own constituency as well as across Northern Ireland.

Local opposition to the controversial method of energy extraction centred on a stand-off at a quarry in Belcoo, where residents fought against Australian firm Tamboran's plans to begin explorations at the site. 

Tanya says it's quite clear that neither fracking or continued use of fossil fuels will solve anything when it comes to reducing damage to the environment.

"We know that fracking and the burning of fossil fuels generally are the principal drivers of climate change. We know that temperatures have already increased by 1.3 degrees over pre-industrial levels and we know that in order to prevent runaway climate changes we have to limit that to 1.5 degrees," she said.

"You know, we have to keep fossil fuels in the ground. And the idea of extracting more of them is just absolute madness," she added.