From Nigeria to Co Mayo

Some years ago massive gas reserves were discovered in the Corib field to the west of Ireland. Despite current estimates of the value of the gas at around $5 billion, all rights to royalities from the gas were sold ten years ago by the Irish government to Shell for £500 (yes, five hundred pounds). As I write this there are elderly people waiting on trollies for over 24 hrs in Irish hospital corridors for want of beds, and headline news stories of a shortage of buses to take children to school, yet not one penny of the profits from the gas will go to the people of Ireland.

Shell plan to process the gas in a new refinery to be built at Ballinaboy, on a site which was publicly owned forest, but which was sold to Shell by the Irish government for a sum they will not disclose due to ‘commercial confidentiality’! We had passed the entrance to the refinery site on our way to the Rossport solidarity camp and it was clear that the blockade by locals was preventing any further work progressing.

We arrived at the camp, which is located on a small 2 acre peat field between the single track road to into the small community of Rossport and the tidal estuary, and were warmly welcomed with offers of cups of tea. As we sat by the fire pit outside the well-equipped marquee, we felt the earth gently vibrate as people walked around. This was due to the natural springiness of the peat but larger earth movement can occasionally be felt due to the unstable nature of the underlying earth. It is through this that Shell plan to construct the 9km pipeline that will bring the gas from the sea to the refinery. It would pass immediately under the fire-pit, I was informed; “but not while I’m breathing” asserted one Rossport resident who is enraged at Shell’s arrogant attitude to local people.

The pipeline that will run through this unstable terrain at a depth of 1.2 metres (“we bury sheep deeper than that”) will have a rated pressure of 345 bar (a car tyre runs at 2 bar)! So any holes or ruptures are potentially devastating over a wide area, threatening all those who live in this beautiful valley, yet Shell’s own reports have concluded that the safe distance is a minimum of 70 metres, coincidently the distance of the nearest house from the pipeline route.

Compulsory Acquisition Orders were issued to local farmers but before permits and a safety report had been issued to Shell. Shell illegally began welding the sections of pipe together before they had these permissions and only when the Rossport residents discovered this were Shell forced to stop their work. Nevertheless Shell took out injunctions against 7 farmers who resisted, and would not allow Shell onto their land.

In law an injunction should act to maintain the status quo. In this case the status quo is that no work should take place until the necessary permits and safety reports are issued. Yet the seven farmers were brought to court and the judge ordered them to permit Shell access to their land. Five still refused and were found in contempt of court and jailed until such time as they are prepared to purge their contempt (i.e. allow Shell access). The judge refused to jail a woman despite her insistence that she had resisted Shell and should therefore also be jailed.

These five men now enter their eighth week in jail in Dublin prison, a 400 mile round trip for family visits. Five ordinary men who, apart from one who once received a £2 fine in 1965 for not having a parking light, had never stepped outside the law, were brave enough to stand up against the might of the multinational Shell company.

It is not only the courts who are siding with Shell in the rape and pillage of the Erris peninsular and its people but the Irish Government also. Having given away the family silver, they have exempted the project from planning scrutiny, proper health and safety regulation of the sites and deny responsibility for environmental control and monitoring (Shell will pump waste products into the bay, threatening fish and the wide variety of marine mammals which inhabit or visit these seas). Unbelievably, the government has established that it is Shell not they who will be responsible for all safety monitoring.

Last Friday Mayo County Council debated a motion to require that Shell build its refinery at sea. The Council’s lawyer was present and advised that the Council could be liable for massive claims for damages by Shell if it passed such a motion. The motion was not passed. Lesson – politians don’t represent the people (I know that’s not news to most of us).

We must all support the Rossport Five and resist Shell so its pipeline and refinery are never built. The people of Rossport want the refinery built at sea but Shell claim that this would be less safe for their staff and too expensive.

While Shell have currently suspended work the blockades must continue because, as was seen previously, Shell are quite capable of undertaking work illegally.

The Rossport Solidarity camp is a base for the blockading of the pipeline site and needs more people to help with taking shifts at the gate. For those activists needing a rest after the G8 I can recommend it. The company, scenery and air is great and the food, generously provided by the Rossport residents, is first class. Oh, and the 2 ever- present Guada, tend to spend their time resting in their private cars and have probably never seen riot gear (they certainly don’t have cameras!).

If you cannot get to Mayo there is a solidarity week planned from Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th August (for further details se the Shell to Sea website).

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