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.