Government finally appoints mediator in dispute over Corrib Gas Scheme.

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Sunday October 30, 2005 00:24

by catscan

Peter Cassells apponted to be the official mediator.

The minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, has appointed Peter Cassells to be the official mediator in the dispute between the consortium intent on building an experimental gas pipeline in Mayo, and local residents who fear for their safety if such a plan goes ahead.

The Government promised to appoint a mediator in September when five protesters were released from prison after spending 94 days behind bars.

Mr Peter Cassells

Peter Cassells is currently the chairman of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance. The NCPP was established by the government in 2002 “to support and drive change in Irish workplaces”. Before joining the NCPP, Cassells was the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions. He is considered by many to be one of the main architects of the partnership agreements which have been a feature of the Irish political and trade union landscape since the early 1990’s.

He is chairman of the Digital Hub International Digital Enterprise Area in Dublin, and has worked as a consultant for Allied Irish Banks, An Post, and the Electricity Supply Board.

In 1998 he unveiled the monumnet at Crossakiel County Meath to Jim Connell, the man who wrote the famous anthem “The Red Flag”. He was chairman of Forfas, the agency responsible for advising the government on enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation from 2002-2004, when he stepped down to become a candidate in the European elections for the Labour Party. He came fourth in the three-seat East constituency, capturing just over 13 per cent of the vote. He is the uncle of Councillor Shane Cassells, the unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in the Meath by-election held in March this year. Despite his Labour affilliation Peter Cassells was said to have canvassed for his nephew in that election, and not for the Labour candidate. The Fianna Fáil director of elections for the Meath by-election campaign was Noel Dempsey, the current minister for Natural Resources.