Irish Independent: Pipeline pressure: “It says a lot about the way Ireland is being run when people's safety is disregarded in favour of a multinational corporation's interests and people are jailed by the State for voicing those concerns.”: Monday Sep 12, 2005  

Sir - Well done to David McKittick for highlighting the issues involved in the dispute between Shell and the Rossport Five (Features). If the claims are true about the possible pressures in the pipeline, then in my opinion the men are justified in their safety concerns. Shell state that the pipe pressure may never reach 345 bar, but even a quarter of that is a very high pressure. To put it into context, a car tyre would only go to about 20 bar. You can imagine what sort of a bang you would get if a pipe joint failed at say 100 bar. Add to that the fact that you are dealing with a flammable gas and anyone can see the dangers. Would you like this in your back garden? Would this have been brought ashore off the coast of Dublin, through Blackrock for example? I think not. Why was it even given planning permission?

Why has no one being sacked for that decision? What is the Environmental Protection Agency doing? Why is the government not stepping in to resolve the dispute? It says a lot about the way Ireland is being run when people's safety is disregarded in favour of a multinational corporation's interests and people are jailed by the State for voicing those concerns. It seems that people are beginning to ask questions about the way they are being governed, and the direction the country is going. David Walker, Larkbere Sydenham, London

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