IrelandOn-Line: Shell chairman: Protestors can end dispute: “As the men began their fifth week behind bars Andy Pyle, Shell Ireland chairman, said it was difficult to see a way forward unless they purged their contempt. “We have looked at all the alternatives that could make a breakthrough here, as I say it was very clear in court yesterday that nothing could be done until the five landowners purge their contempt,” Mr Pyle said. “I think the case is clearly in their hands.”: Tuesday 26 July 2005

The five men jailed over protests against a pipeline from the Corrib gas field off the Mayo coast are the only people with the power to resolve the dispute, it was claimed today.

The landowners were sent to prison for contempt of court after they refused to comply with an order banning them from blocking Shell E and P Ireland access to their farms.

As the men began their fifth week behind bars Andy Pyle, Shell Ireland chairman, said it was difficult to see a way forward unless they purged their contempt.

“We have looked at all the alternatives that could make a breakthrough here, as I say it was very clear in court yesterday that nothing could be done until the five landowners purge their contempt,” Mr Pyle said.

“I think the case is clearly in their hands.”

Mr Pyle revealed Shell were investigating claims that they had breached a consent agreed with the Government over the high-pressure pipeline near Rossport, Ballina.

Officials in the Department of Natural Resources were unhappy that welding work had begun on the pipeline without permission. It is understood the company were only granted rights to begin preparatory work on the pipeline.

Shell believe starting the welding works was a technical breach and would not constitute a flagrant breach of any consents granted by the department.

On Saturday Noel Dempsey, Minister for Natural Resources, said he believed the company had breached the permissions it was granted and had asked the company for an immediate response.

The investigation is due to be completed tomorrow.

“As a company we have been meticulously careful over the whole life of this project to comply with all of those consents,” Mr Pyle said.

“We have to look very carefully and give and a full response back to the minister as we are committed to do in the next day or two.”

Mr Pyle told RTÉ Radio that he was surprised that the five men were serving time in jail. Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, President of the High Court, sent the men back to prison for a fifth week after they failed to purge their contempt.

The men, brothers Philip and Vincent McGrath, Micheál Ó Seighin, Willie Corduff and Brendan Philbin, are in contempt of a court order banning them from blocking Shell E and P Ireland access to their land.

The judge told the men it was up to them to purge their contempt before any progress could be made.

Tendering for a full safety audit of the pipeline is to close at the end of the week. The review of the high-pressure line is due to take at least eight weeks.

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