The Rossport Solidarity Camp in county Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, was set up in 2005 when five local farmers were imprisoned for trying to protect their land from being destroyed by Shell. A consortium of multinationals backed by the Irish state and led by Shell is trying to build a dangerous, experimental raw gas pipeline and inland gas refinery. Corrupt politicians have done deals with Shell and the other multinationals meaning that the Irish people will receive none of the money from this project if it goes ahead.

The locality has huge numbers of Gardaí, & Shell security, some of whom are members of fascist groups, and people are facing increasingly violent and dangerous attacks. In April Willie Corduff – one of the 5 men who was imprisoned in 2005 for trying to protect his own land from shell - was severely beaten at night and hospitalised by Shell’s security during a truck occupation. This June two local fisherman escaped with their lives after their boat was boarded and sunk in open sea by 4 armed masked men. The two men, who were help at gunpoint during the attack, are strong opponents of the Shell project.

The security firm contracted by Shell to protect the project and to repress opposition in the area is called Integrated Risk Management Services (IRMS). There is evidence that people working for IRMS are also members of fascist groups:
“It has emerged that members of the Szekler Legion, a paramilitary group which recruits among young ethnic Hungarians in Romania, have worked as security guards at the Shell Corrib Gas Project construction sites in recent months… The Szekler Legion have been implicated in violent incidents in Romania. The group openly promotes neo-fascism and race hate.” 1
Further evidence of the fascist link to IRMS was revealed by the death of Michael Dwyer. On 16th April, Dwyer, who was known to have worked as security at the Shell site in Mayo, Ireland, was killed by Bolivian special forces, along with two other fascists who were a part of an attempted coup against president Morales. Dwyer's gang were members of a group responsible for racist murders and attacks on indigenous Bolivians.

Shell’s pipeline work is limited to the summer, if resistance can be sustained work can be halted again this year. The camp is calling for people to go to Mayo to support the struggle against Shell, and to support the Shell to Sea campaign in anyway you can from your local area. For more information see www.indymedia.ie and www.shelltosea.com  http://royaldutchshellplc.com

1 Fascist group worked as Shell guards, 28th April, Irish Examiner.