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Details of the Solidarity Camp in Rossport, and upcoming protests and meetings across the country
mayo |
environment |
news report
Saturday July 02, 2005 06:22 by Terry - Shell to Sea info at shelltosea dot com http://www.shelltosea.com
The Solidarity Camp - why it is there, how you get there, what it is doing and what it needs, plus protest actions and meetings around the country.
Arising out of the solidarity gathering on the June bank holiday weekend, a number of supporters of the local residents’ struggle for justice against the multi-nationals and the state have been camped out in Rossport. This has been ongoing since Tuesday the 19th when the call went out to join the roadside vigil which highlights the intrusive and obstructive and dangerous nature of the plans of Shell-Statoil-Roadbridge-Sicim to put 60 to 70 trucks a day on narrow country lanes with next to no traffic management plan.
See: Update: Shell Truck Blockade Continues
The story at that link gives a taste of the purpose of being up in Erris, basically as the presence on the roadside has been going on 24/7 it was necessary for more folk to join in to relieve the local people who had initiated this action, who have farms to run and jobs to go to, who have the stress of court action and the stress of the corporate/state assault on their lives, homes and families.
Some local residents involved in campaigning against Shell-Statoil-Roadbridge-Sicim have been literally working day and night. Roadbridge-Sicim being the construction contractors.
The call out to bring people to the area went public, that is, outside the Shell to Sea network, in response to the situation where last Wednesday the landowners upon whom Shell had initiated injunction proceedings would have to be in Dublin at the Four Courts, thereby reducing the number of people on hand to prevent entry by Shell-Statoil-Roadbridge-Sicim engineers onto the farms. See one of their earlier attempts:
Shell in Rossport 16/06/2005/
Today in Mayo: Shell attempt to seize land is defeated
It is for doing this that five men are currently in Cloverhill Prison.
At the moment the on-going action is the picketing of the proposed refinery site at Ballinaboy, in an effort to persuade workers there to down tools, as some have been doing.
This has been happening on Thursday and Friday and re-starts on Monday.
The solidarity presence consists of people from who have travelled from Ballina, Galway, Louth, Cork, Kildare and Limerick. We, and the local campaigners, are now looking for more people to join us, in response to the jailings.
The day to day tasks are preparing logistically for the arrival of more people, joining in the actions of local residents, and helping to publicise the situation on indymedia.ie. All actions are peaceful, carried out in consultation with the residents, and organised in a non-hierarchal and horizontal manner.
This is very much a struggle which has been going on for years carried out by people who will be materially effected in terms of quality of life should the development go ahead, the nature of that struggle will not change. The purpose of the solidarity camp is to contribute whatever support we can to that continuing struggle.
How to get to Rossport:
By Car:
There is a map here:
Note this does not have all the roads marked that you will have to travel on.
From Ballina:
Take the N59, the road going to Belmullet, first town you meet is Crossmolina, after Crossmolina you come to Bellacorick Power Station, which is disused turf burning station, you will also notice a wind farm here, there is a sharp right hand turn in the road, you are continuing on the N59, travelling in the direction of the village of Bangor Erris, also known just as Bangor.
You go through Bangor Erris until on the other side of the village you come to the oil road, on your left is Srahmore, this is the site Shell are using to store removed peat from where they are building their refinery, there is a fork in the road, and just in front is a Marian grotto, the road on the right looks like it isn’t in Mayo, this is the ‘oil road’, you go up the ‘oil road’. At the end of this road you should see some concrete sheep. This is Ballinaboy, where the refinery is being built. You turn right to Glenaboy bridge and from there left to Rossport.
From Castlebar:
Follow signs for Achill, a few miles outside Castlebar you turn right up the R312, follow this road straight for about 25 miles, passing through the townlands of Beltra and Derreen, and you arrive at Bellacorick power station, at which point you follow the same directions as if you were coming from Ballina.
By Public Transport.
There are trains and buses to both Ballina and Castlebar.
See: http://www.buseireann.ie/site/home/ for buses and http://www.irishrail.ie/home/ for trains.
From those places you can get transport from a private bus company called McGraths (097) 87842.
Their buses leave Ballina at 5.15pm from outside Dunnes Stores, that is, from the carpark beside the Humbert Monument.
Their buses leave Castlebar from outside Heatons Store, which is at the top of main street, opposite side of the road from the drop off point for the Bus Eireann buses.
They will leave you off at Rossport cross, but they do not run on Sundays (return from Rossport cross 10.45 a.m. Monday to Saturday, 10 euro return).
Alternatively you can get as far as Bangor via the Bus Eireann route from Ballina to Belmullet.
These leave Ballina bus station at 12.15 and 18.10 Monday to Saturday and at 13.00 on Sundays.
See: http://www.buseireann.ie/site/home/
Materials needed to get ready for more people and a permanent base;
please donate if you can,
Camping wish-list;
carpets,
pallets,
tools; hammers, nails, hacksaws, shovels, forks, spades
buckets,
toilet seat,
woodchips/sawdust,
building wood
food/fruit & veggies,
blankets,
camping gear,
old furniture,
boats & oars,
polyprop rope,
climbing gear,
lanterns and gas lamps
binoculars,
people,
strawbales,
caravans,
teepees,
geodomes,
mobile phone batteries,
leisure batteries,
transport,
banner making gear,
bikes,
paints
If you are coming to camp:
You can contact Terry at 086 168 2416 or Bob at 086 3201612, they are the contacts for people coming to join the solidarity camp.
Remember:
things to bring:
rain gear, it is Ireland after all
wellies
sleeping bag
tent
torches
fork/ spoon and bowl
video cameras
musical instruments and ...
good humour!
Forthcoming Meetings and Actions:
Castlebar Demonstration:
Sunday at 3pm, meeting in the TF (aka Travellers’ Friend) carpark.
Ballinaboy Picket:
Continuing again on Monday and subsequent days, picket of the Shell-Statoil-Roadbridge-Sicim construction site for the refinery part of the Corrib Gas project.
Protest in Galway:
Monday, at 10.30 AM, outside the Constituency Clinic (beside the Royal Rock Cafe, Ballybane Industrial Estate) of state minister, Frank Fahey.
Public Meeting, Ennis, Co.Clare, Monday, July 4th.
Shell to Sea Organising Meeting, Tuesday, Dublin, July 5th.
Protest in Cork, Wednesday, July 6th.
Meet 8 a.m. City Hall, Go to Shell main depot, Centre Park Road, linked in with international day of action on climate change. See: Story of previous action in Cork.
Rally in Dublin, Wednesday, July 6th.
Meet Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, 7.30pm.
Scotland all the time during G-8 protests:
The distribution of 15,000 leaflets about the Shell in Mayo situation and holding of several workshops.
Contact [email protected] or ask around in the Irish barrio.
Add your own below –
A national Shell to Sea organising meeting is scheduled for mid-July, to take place in north west Mayo, watch this space for details.
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The Five Men are back in the Four Courts this Wednesday, support appreciated.
After the Town Hall Theatre premiere of her documentary on anti-war 'axtivist', Mary Kelly, Margaretta D'arcy, will be leading a solidarity/protest march of the viewers through the streets of Galway to the Shell oil depot in dockland. : Town Hall Theatre, Eglington, Shop, High streets.
The screening of 'Big Plane, Little Axe' & its double bill partner, the Global Women's Strike documentary, 'Talking of Power' concerning Venezuelan women and other sectors spearheading Chavez's revolution starts at 10.30 am & ENDS AT 1PM.
Click link below to see event. (Events are viewable in the Upcoming Events box in the left hand column. Publish your event by selecting Type=Event . Thanks, 1 of IMC Ed).
i find it laughable to be comparing the nigerian issue with that in rossport, especially now that you have hooked yourselves up with the biggest thugs, murderers and criminals on this island who would have no hesitation in putting a gun to your head or knees if you or anybody else was to pee them off i.e.. robert mccartney
according to newspaper articles the vast majority of land owners in rossport have signed up with shell and its only handful who havent i.e. the clover hill 5, there is altogether too much of this no to progress and development of infrastructure and natural resources going on in ireland at present,
now take propaganda elsewhere thanks.
If the locals bothered to talk directly to shell in a civil manner, they would find out the pipeline will not operate at 345 bar pressure, but at a much lower pressure. Everybody is getting angry and upset because they all do not know what they are talking about. Talk to Shell and find out the real details instead of listening to a few people who have not got a clue what they are talking about and are upsetting and misinforming the locals.
By the way, ever seen a plastic pipeline for gas??????!!!!!!!! Have a think about who you all listen to.
Have a look at http://www.shell.com and click on the link for "learn about the Corrib gas project "for more information.
talking about who were quoted in the irish times today? Are they all misinformed. I don't think so. USA has laxest safety laws in the first world for this type of thing and according to these scientists this pipeline would not get built there. I note you are posting across threads. Who sent ya?
1,500 at rally to support jailed protesters
Lorna Siggins in Castlebar, Co Mayo
Families of the five imprisoned north Mayo men have called for the resignation of Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey and his predecessors in marine, Dermot Ahern and Frank Fahey.
The demand was made at a rally attended by more than 1,500 people in Castlebar, Co Mayo, yesterday in support of the five men, who were jailed indefinitely last week for contempt of court over their opposition to Shell's Corrib gas field pipeline.
Several engineering and physics experts who addressed the rally, including Dr Werner Blau, professor of physics at Trinity College, Dublin, said the fears of the men and their families in Rossport were justified, given the fatality record in relation to high-pressure pipelines.
In a statement issued by the families of the five men in Cloverhill Prison, Ms Bríd McGarry, who is also a Rossport landowner, called for a halt to all "illegal" development at Rossport, a cessation of all operations by Shell onshore and offshore pending a full hearing of the issues, and a direction to the company to clean gas and hydrocarbons offshore "as recommended by Kevin Moore, senior inspector with An Bord Pleanála" in 2003.
The families also called for a renegotiation of the entire State deal with oil and gas exploration companies under the 1992 Finance Act, and appealed to people to lobby their TDs and councillors to seek a "vindication of the Rossport five".
Mary Corduff, wife of one of the men, Willie Corduff, accused Shell of trying to "divide and conquer and split neighbours and friends". Chris Philbin, son of Brendan Philbin, said that responsibility lay not only with Shell but with the Government and with "Mayo County Council, where it all started".
Maura Harrington, campaigner for the Erris residents, said that last Wednesday's jailing of the five men represented a "Rubicon". The council for the West did not speak for the men or their families when it facilitated a meeting in Leinster House last week with Shell, she said. The council was "trying to help Shell take the hard edges off a PR disaster", she said.
Prof Werner Blau, professor of physics at Trinity College Dublin and part-time Rossport resident, appealed to Shell's shareholders to remind the company of its corporate social responsibilities. He had examined the technical data, and the proximity of the pipeline to houses wouldn't even comply with US standards, which were "pretty lax", he said. The US Office of Pipeline Safety has recorded 1,586 incidents including 61 fatalities, 235 injuries and over $408 million of damage from 1986 to 2004, Prof Blau said.
Galway-based engineer Brian Coyle said it was well known that pipelines failed, and if this pipeline was laid along its current route "people will die".
Mayo TDs Dr Jerry Cowley (Ind), who organised the rally, and Michael Ring (FG) reiterated their call on the Minister for the Marine to insist that Shell build its gas terminal at sea. Several speakers called for a boycott of both Shell and Statoil products.
Mayo TD Beverley Flynn (Ind) and several Fianna Fáil councillors attended, but did not address the rally. Further protests are due to be held today at the Shell terminal site at Bellanaboy and at the offices of Minister of State Frank Fahey in Galway.
In a statement yesterday , Shell E&P Ireland Limited said that it remained available for talks.
© The Irish Times
Why is the pipeline designed for such a high pressure?
Although designed for 345bar, the maximum operating pressure in the Corrib upstream pipeline will be 150bar and this will further decrease after production start-up due to depletion of the gas in the reservoir. The pipeline is actually designed to address the more onerous conditions that it will experience offshore. Indeed, the pipeline is designed to accept any reservoir pressure in the extremely unlikely event of a failure of a series of controls between the reservoir and the terminal. This results in a pipeline design that is a higher specification than would normally be required for an onshore pipeline
"Families of the five imprisoned north Mayo men have called for the resignation of Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey and his predecessors in marine, Dermot Ahern and Frank Fahey."
That was pretty funny, the sentence had to be repeated about 3 times after the name Dempsey was mentioned because the crowd was cheering the suggestion so loudly.
Great day yesterday, today was almost as good, although Frank Fahey chickened out of appearing for his own constituency clinic.
I didn't hear it, but Jerry Cowley apparently harangued him over Galway Bay Fm for non-appearance.
Had he heard about Cowley coming down to give his official complaint?
Wish I'd heard that, anybody tape it? I didn't know it was happening since I was in the cafe I'm pictured in elsewhere drinking tea.
Stevo
I mean they don't have anything to gain by lying about this do they? Really, some people are so predjudiced in favour of their own safety, health and wellbeing that they'lll actually insist on a fair review process to protect them. What is the world coming to?
Pics taken from Dooncarton Hill of the Rossport Carrowteige area.
I find it myself laughable that anyone who has half a brain and lives in today's world honestly thinks that a company such as Shell gives a toss about anyone in Rosport, Co. Mayo or Ireland for that matter. This company is purely out to take as much as they can from the country, and turn it into as much money for themselves as possible, and screw anyone who gets in their way.
The only people in this whole saga who are holding the proverbial gun to the head of others are Shell, to anyone who dares stand up to them and their next Euro.
Anyone placing articles on this site should attempt to find out fact from fiction and not just believe what they read in the press. (Although I personally thank most of the press for the support and publicity they have given to this travesty of justice).
Many of the locals who did sign up to give over their land were misled many years ago, without being given the true facts of what would be running under their feet. Now that the facts are out, it is not only the 5 who are currently in jail who are standing up to Shell but the whole of Rosport, and the surrounding villages. Anyone with any balls would stand up and join them and be proud to be associated with men who have such strong conviction for what is right.
As for progress I do think that it is a great thing and should be grasped whole heartedly, but not at the cost of putting families and the wonderful unspoilt countryside of Co. Mayo at risk.
And NO I don't write this as a resident of Rosport, nor even a resident of Ireland, but someone from the UK who would like to see justice done and the small man win.....
to think that this case is occuring in a state with an ostensibly fair judicial system and one that ranks highly (on the global scale) in freedom of speech, association and civil rights to protest.
Is it too much to wonder how such companies as Shell behave in countries with little or no recognition of such rights? If they are not beyond reproach in a state such as Ireland, if they may not carry on their business which is considered a "neccesity" rather than luxury trade without accusations of bullying, then are we to believe they are examples of corporate practise and ethics in the third world?
You cannot say that indymedia.ie ranks highly (on the global scale) in freedom of speech, can you? Hence the hiding of points of view that are critical of locals and pro-Shell. Another propaganda job from the "usual suspects"....
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-ireland-newswire/
Reasons for hiding too - Judge for yourselves folks - don't take word of suddenly appearing 'concerned citizens for shell'
losing face!
I've been passing out some of the Rossport flyers that I got from Kieron after the protest yesterday to people around Galway.
I've been in the middle of doing other things so haven't passed out many of them so far.
But what this post was really intended to say was that it was confirmed by my housemate earlier that there are next to no alternatives to Statoil in terms of service stations in Galway.
I think Terry may have been trying to bring attention to this over the last couple of years, but I hadn't noticed how extreme it was.
As far as I am aware there are about 5 stations that arent Statoil & 1 of those is Shell.
It therefore becomes extremely difficult for the somewhat disinterested man in the street to avoid buying from Statoil since he will need petrol. I'm wondering if this is a case of monopolisation or what?
Stevo
I just found the URL for the 1st story Terry posted , back in March & I think it gives a really good overview of what the Rossport 5 themselves were protesting. Not sure if anything as succinct has been posted since the issue has been clouded by their arrest.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68991
Thought i'd at least stick the URL up so that people could see it
Stevo
Read the history of Shell's doings if you are in any doubt. Fair play to the 5, their families & supporters!
I support the Rossport Solidarity Camp and their efforts to protect the environment and community rights.