ShellNews.net: ROYAL DUTCH SHELL IRISH PIPELINE DILEMMA: Wednesday 24 August 2005: 10.25 EDT

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL IRISH PIPELINE DILEMMA: 10.25am Wednesday 24 August 2005

By John Donovan

Shell management is now firmly hooked on a dilemma of its own making arising from what has become an international PR disaster of significant proportions.

Shell would no doubt dearly love for the Rossport 5, languishing in Cloverhill Prison, Dublin (at Shell management’s behest) for eight weeks to be released so that talks on the delayed Corrib pipeline project could be commenced.

However, Shell executives will be concerned about losing face as a result of being publicly seen to be backing down, even though they probably bitterly regret having the men imprisoned in the first place. Furthermore, while the men remain incarcerated there is always the prospect that one of them could become ill (or worse) thereby vastly adding to the pressure on Shell and generating even more widespread negative publicity. The current publicity firestorm could turn into something even more ugly. 

Below is a self-explanatory Open Letter to Shell from the Rossport 5 published on the “Shell to Sea” website.

Open Letter from Rossport 5

We are currently in prison for refusing to allow Shell and their Irish Government partners build a pipeline close to our family homes. Our crime was to refuse access to our lands. We have refused access because of the certainty that if this pipeline as currently proposed ruptures we, our families and neighbours, will die.

What would you do if a court ordered you to accept the installation of a potentially lethal pipeline which no state agency has or will take responsibility for?

We are currently in prison for an indefinite time until we accept such a pipeline, which we cannot and will not. Would the people of Mayo or Dublin accept a potentially lethal pipeline through the main street in Castlebar or Stephens Green in Dublin? A pipeline which has a rupture kill zone of several hundred metres. We think not.

Our imprisonment was only made possible by the granting of a compulsory order for our lands to Shell by Frank Fahey T.D. while Minister for Marine and Natural Resources. Without that order we would be free men today at home with our families. Instead we are confined in prison cells.

Initially we were jubilant and excited for Mayo and the country when we heard of the Corrib gas find. When we learned that the route would traverse Rossport we became concerned and as we looked closer and sought advice we became alarmed. As Irish citizens and mainly traditional second and third generation Fine Gael and Fianna Fail voters we instinctively sought reassurance and support from state agencies and our local politicians and as farmers from the IFA. We were initially fobbed off, then ignored and finally marginalized. As our awareness of the lethal danger to our families grew our concerns turned into resistance.

We owe much in particular to the incredible continued support of Jerry Cowley TD & Michael Ring TD and the Fine Gael & Fianna Fail grassroots in Mayo. By comparison we have been shocked by the abandonment in our time of crisis by the Fine Gael leader and local TD Enda Kenny who we now regard as irrelevant in this crisis as a leader. We would also like to acknowledge the massive support we have received from both ordinary Irish citizens and various groupings including ICSA, ICMSA, National Women’s Council, SWP, the Greens, Sinn Fein and Labour along with Louth & Galway county councils, Udaras na Gaeltachta and many other local authorities and organisations.

To date the dealings of the Irish government in this project have seen our land rights given to a private company, our families and neighbours very lives endangered and the natural resource of the Irish people given away. This is to such an extent that the Norwegian people, through their state oil company STATOIL holding 38% of the Corrib Field, will receive more from this project than the Irish people who have a 0% holding. In addition the government has provided 400 acres of Coillte land and committed the Irish people to finance a gas pipe from Mayo to Galway to facilitate the outward transport of gas to the UK and Europe. The national interest is a myth that has been fabricated by the Irish government and their partner Shell. The minister Noel Dempsey and his Department are not and have never been innocent bystanders in this crisis but have played a full role alongside Shell in its creation.

Despite all of this we, in good faith, acknowledge the attempts of Shell and their government partners to create a period of calm by halting all work on the project in north Mayo and their call for dialogue. We wish to immediately accept this offer and enter into talks to resolve the impasse. To that end we ask Shell and their government partners to immediately stand down their injunction at this time so that we can leave prison to attend these talks.

We have been betrayed by our government, marginalized by sections of the media and ignored by the “alternative” government. Instead it has been the people of Ireland who have sustained us during this time of crisis and personal trauma and who have rallied and continue to rally to our aid – thank you. All we demand is for our families and neighbours to be safe in their own homes - no more no less.

Micheál Ó Seighin

Willie Corduff

Brendan Philbin

Vincent McGrath

Philip McGrath

Cloverhill Prison, Dublin

http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=205

ARTICLE ENDS

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