Cautious Welcome For Ryan

mayo | environment | other press Tuesday June 19, 2007 15:57 by IT reader

Interesting times in Shell to Sea campaign

Two interesting pieces in the Irish Times yesterday, one an article by Lorna Siggins, the other a letter correcting the rather peculiar editorial last week, which likened the dispute in Mayo to an Ealing Comedy film.

Many people inside and outside the campaign are keeping a close eye on Eamon Ryan, and wondering whether he will meet with the Shell to Sea campaign before he meets with Shell.

Ryan has a supporter of Shell to Sea for a long time, and now he finds himself in charge of the project to get gas from the Corrib Field. It will be interesting to see what his reaction will be when the Gardaí use brutal tactics and start arresting protesters against Shell in Erris and in other parts of the country.

The 29th of June is the second anniversary of the imprisonment of the Rossport Five. Perhaps the new minister will mark the occasion by making a statement on the current situation.

Ryan ministry welcomed by Shell protesters

IRISH TIMES 18 June 2007

Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent

Shell to Sea campaigners in north Mayo say that the appointment of a Green Party energy minister offers a new opportunity to resolve the Corrib gas dispute.

In a related development, the Department of Transport says that a vessel hired for Shell E&P Ireland's planned survey of Sruwaddaccon Bay cannot undertake the work until it is passed by its marine survey office.

The marine survey on finding an alternative pipeline route was due to start last week.

Shell to Sea spokesman John Monaghan said that the campaign intended to seek an early meeting with the new Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, and hoped he would pay a return visit to Erris to review the situation.

The Green Party had given its political support for an independent commission to review the gas project in its entirety before the election, but reportedly failed to win this concession from Fianna Fáil during its coalition talks.

Mr Ryan has highlighted concerns of residents over the onshore pipeline as his party's former energy and marine spokesman. He has visited the area and has also been a member of the Campaign for Protection of Resources, which was formed to lobby for a review of the State's oil and gas licensing terms in Irish waters.

Siptu national offshore committee spokesman Padhraig Campbell, a founder of the campaign, said that he welcomed Mr Ryan's appointment, given his "broad knowledge of all issues relating to oil and gas matters in Ireland".

" Siptu's national offshore committee urges the immediate updating of our oil and gas legislation and the scrapping of the seriously outdated 1992 giveaway deal," Mr Campbell said in a statement last week. "Siptu also urges Minister Ryan to re-examine the whole development concept of the Corrib project and not sign off on any new raw gas pipeline route, as is Green Party policy passed unanimously at their 2007 conference."

NUI Seanad candidate Dr Mark Garavan also welcomed Mr Ryan's appointment and said it presented "an ideal opportunity for a fresh and positive outlook to be taken to the Corrib gas conflict".

"This conflict has gone on for far too long and urgently requires political leadership to resolve it. I hope that Eamon Ryan, who is familiar with the detail of the issue and has a track record of involvement in it, will prioritise the Corrib gas conflict for immediate attention," Dr Garavan said.

The Department of Transport has confirmed that its marine survey office has been undertaking a survey of the Blue Eagle, a vessel hired by Shell for marine hydrographical and geophysical work in Sruwaddaccon Bay.

The vessel was due to start work last Tuesday, but was initially delayed after 20 people were injured at Pollathomas pier last Monday night during a Garda/ contractor operation to place a portacabin at the foot of the pier.

The solicitor for the landowner who states he owns the property subsequently issued a notice ordering the structure to removed. The Department said that passenger boat regulations, including "plying limits", had to be approved before the vessel hired for the project could work in the bay.

However, the company sought to play down the significance of this yesterday. A Shell E&P Ireland spokesman said that the survey would start as soon as the vessel had been "properly calibrated and has been passed by the survey department of the Department of Transport", and he understood that this applied to all such vessels in Irish waters.

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CLASHES OVER CORRIB GAS PROJECT

Madam, - Your Editorial of June 13th on the Corrib project is unfortunately beset by factual inaccuracies as well as a rather skewed analysis of the opposition to the project in its current form. I would like to address the Editorial's claim that the results of the general election somehow show a lack of support for the Shell to Sea campaign.

It should not be necessary to point out that the election was not a referendum on the Corrib issue. Moreover, I fail to see how you can divine the electorate's view (or more correctly, the view of that percentage who bothered to vote) on a single issue from something as complex as the results of a general election.

Presumably you refer to Dr Jerry Cowley, the Mayo politician most closely linked with the campaign, losing his seat. To read this as a thumbs down for Shell to Sea is to miss the fact that many supporters of the campaign gave their primary votes to Michael Ring or another Fine Gael candidate as they believed this to be the best route to an alternative government with a Mayo Taoiseach who might back them.

It is not an opinion I personally share, but one I have heard expressed in the Erris area. One might equally well say that the success of the Green Party shows support for Shell to Sea. Of course this does not necessarily follow; I merely cite the example to show the flaw in this logic.

The Editorial refers to a "core [ of protesters] who will settle for nothing less than the abandonment of the Corrib gas project". The campaign chose the name Shell to Sea to reflect its fundamental demand: that there be no onshore refinery for Corrib gas. The campaign has consistently stated that it is not opposed to Corrib gas being refined, merely that it should be refined in such a way that does not endanger the safety of the Erris people. To talk about the "national interest" (in the context of the current give-away conditions for our hydrocarbons) and the "rule of law" (in light of the way the Garda and the Government have twisted the law to benefit multinationals over the ordinary citizen) is laughable.

It should be obvious how false are Shell's claims about their commitment to "community consultation" in view of the fact that they did in 2007 in Pollathomas exactly what they did in Rossport in 2005: demand admittance to private land without any prior notice and refuse to offer any explanation.

Unfortunately, for those who attempted peacefully to protect their neighbours' rights, they received a drubbing from a police force which is coming more and more to resemble a band of mercenaries in the employ of Shell. As to the consultants' meeting your refer to, anyone in attendance can attest that the only people at the meeting who did not oppose the current form of the Corrib project were the consultants themselves.

Finally, the reference to the structure near Pollathomas pier as a toilet is misleading. It is in fact a 6ft x10ft metal container with a sticker emblazoned "security vault". Neither its function nor the identity of its intended users were revealed to the landowner through whose property the delivery drivers intended to pass. I believe the decision by Shell representatives to refer to the object as a toilet in statements to the media was intended to make the landowner's justified and legal objection to the trespass on his land appear farcical. -

Yours, etc, BOB KAVANAGH, Pollathomas, Co Mayo.