Innovative funding methods revealed in Shell grant scheme
mayo |
environment |
feature
Thursday March 27, 2008 22:28
by Hud Hastings
Shell recently announced the names of local groups in Erris who they are going to fund, as part of the deal they arrived with government appointed mediator Peter Cassels in 2006.
Cassells, who admitted that there was no basis for mediation while Shell insisted on an onshore production pipeline and refinery, recommended that the company should pay money into the local community in an effort to turn public opinion in favour of the scheme.
Related Links: More on Corrib gas project
Of the groups favoured with grants, only a handful were from the local parish of Kilcommon, which would bear the brunt of the environmental disaster that Shell's scheme would entail. Of these, local people laughed at some of the more obviously silly and fictional "groups", but people were genuinely puzzled by the inclusion of the Dooncarton Landslide Committee. This group, which is widely respected in the local area, has been working to rebuild the local cemetery which was badly damaged in 2003, when heavy rains swept part of the hillside down into the bay.
Of all the people in Kilcommon, this committee know the danger of installing a natural gas production pipeline in such an unstable landscape. So how did Shell persuade the group to accept their cash?
Of course there is nothing on the grant form that says that you have to support Shell's scheme, but it would seem strange that a Committee which know well the impact of Shell's plans will have on the landscape should even consider giving the impression that the Corrib scheme is acceptable to them.
It seems that Shell got around the problem by simply making a deal with a local supporter, who chairs the committee, Gerry McDonnell. Rather than approaching the group as a whole, and going through any sort of procedure, Shell simply paid the cheque to this man, who accepted it without any discussion with anyone. He declared this week:
"This application for funding was not put to the committee because I knew there was no point”.
It seems he didn't even pay the money into the group's bank account, instead he says he has paid it to Mayo County Council's account so that they can pay the money towards repairs.
It is not clear if Mr McDonnell was paid a fee by Shell for this service, or if he simply did took the initiative to help the company for some other reason. Shell have offered cash to members of the public in the Kilcommon area in return for support, and the company was very happy to be able to claim that the Donncaron Landslide Committee taking their money.
In the light of the revelation that the funding was actually accepted by one individual, the company has said it will review the allocation of the grant.
Gerry Sheerin, treasure of the Committee, said he was sadly forced to resign when he heard the money was coming from Shell, who never offered any support for local people before they were forced to. He said "We’re not going to be used by Shell, who are manipulating voluntary groups to buy local support. This idea of funding for local groups only came when their backs were against the wall and we don’t want any part of it.”
Of the seven people who were on the committee, five have now resigned and the Dooncarton Landslide Committee has been wound up.
Connacht Telegraph Article here:
Landslide group on the rocks
Read the full article here (free with registration) www.con-telegraph.ie/
The Dooncarton Landslide Committee, set up in the aftermath of the devastating 2003 north Mayo landslide, is set to be dissolved amidst a storm of controversy.
It has emerged the majority of the committee have resigned over a €10,000 funding allocation from Shell E&P Ireland under its local grants scheme to erect safety barriers along a dangerous stretch of road overlooking the cliffs of Broadhaven Bay between the villages of Glengad and Seanbhaile.
The road from Pollatomish to Glengad, with the cemetery on the left
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Comments (39 of 39)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39Cassels suggested Shell money to turn public opinion towards Shell in Mayo! Sounds like material for another tribunal. Did Mayo County Council take the money and under what protocol? County Councils are increasingly getting a bad press - witness Waterford on Good Friday weekend! Shell has not made any profit yet in Ireland and this grant money will be written off against tax with its other expenses if ever Shell gets to work in Ireland - offshore that is. Many companies are in Court over the non-payment of owed taxes to States long after being due. The Shell grant for another expansion of a road cries out for justice when the State gave only a pittance to Mayo County Council.
PROJECT MONITORING COMMITTEE (PMC) for the Ballinaboy gas terminal, chairman Des Mahon, Mayo County Manager.: local members:
Mr. Gerard McDonnell, Community Representative
Mr. Nicholas Whyte, Community Representative
McDonnell's brother works for Mayo Co. Council ...
It would appear that $hell spinmeisters have yet to formulate something for the drones to copy and paste ...
according to an Irish Times report of Febraury last year, there was a ceremony to mark the complete restoration of the area.
___________________________________________________________________________
Extensive restoration work to the Pollathomas/Glengad/Inver area of Erris, Co Mayo, following a major landslide in 2003, is now fully completed. Tom Shiel reports.
IRISH TIMES 17th FEBRUARY 207
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív attended a ceremony yesterday to commemorate the incident, which directly affected 50 local families. It was held in the Church of Christ the King, Aughoose, followed by a blessing at Pollathomas Cemetery.
_________________________________________________________________________
So what exactly is the money for? Has there been another landslide?
Hi I was a handsomely paid Shell Troll, But I am gob-smacked by what has happened with the landslide committee,
It is now likely that Shell will dismantle the refinery, and abandon the gas find.
It is a very sad day for myself and my army of trolls who were highly paid by Shell to "spin" lies to counter your highly intelligent arguments.
I concede defeat, and offer my unconditional surrender!
Signed: unemployed Shell troll.
Maybe this could be the source of some of the mysterious cash that was lodged to Berties accounts, of course without his knowledge. How the hell does anybody now expect Bertie to be able to recall lodgments when benefactors such as Shell go such a long way around about doing things? The poor man is tortured with such sloppiness!
Swimming in money is what we are, and not a sign yet that gas is coming from the sea, and maybe it is not! Could it be that Muintir Erris have perfected the formulae that increase cows’ release of methane? Let’s hope that the cows will be trained to face in the right direction when the big new factory in Ballinaboy jumps into gear! Keep the money rolling and you can be sure that Muintir Erris will have no limit on the number of committees it can disband!
Could someone properly explain to me this punter Cassells actual job ? Is he paid to act as an advisor for this foreign oil company from the public purse ?That is are Irish taxpayers paying Peter Cassells fecking wages for him to act as a spin doctor for these robbing bastards ? who does he work for , Shell or the Irish people ? If so let shell pay his fecking wages
He's a very interesting man. He was once, I think, a candidate for the Labour Party. Very strong union background. He canvassed during the Meath By-Election in march 2005, when John Bruton gave up his set to take a Brussels job. But Cassells didn't canvass for Labour, he turned out for the Fianna Fáil candidate- Shane Cassells, his nephew.
Shane Cassells was picked to fight the seat after the leading FF councillor, who was expected to run, had questions raised about dodgy deals and corruption.
So who was the FF director of elections during the Meath By Election- closely working with Shane and Peter Cassells? Why, our old friend Noel Dempsey, who later appointed Peter Cassells to mediate between Shell and the Rossport Five.
Personal story about Cassels: A few of us were up protesting at the Shell HQ in November 2005. Sister Majella was there so she can vouch for this. We were outside and Shell had gone into lockdown, with no one coming in or out. We had a wreath and a letter, because it was the anniversary of Ken Saro Wwia's execution, and we were trying to get them to accept them.
The security wouldn't even open the door to talk to us. Even Dan Boyle, who was with us, had to talk to them through a crack in the door.
Who should happen along except Peter Cassells! They let him in, no problem. He didn't even have to show ID. Obviously he was no stranger to the guys on the door at Corrib House.
We have all seen the destruction that was bestoyed our community that tragic night. The local people did a remarkable job with the clean up and repairs. It took the Gov. Officals over a year to come an witness first hand the damage that was done. Remember that no garda were available to protect the people who had to leave their homes, but up to 300 garda can be here at a moments notice to sudue the locals who voice concerns about their enviorment. What a disgrace. How many committess is gerrard MacDonald on and where are all the funds gone that he's in charge of, he's on 5 or 6 that I know about, what a sham The funds are only resting in his accounts...
It is a shame that this has happened to such a wonderful area, a real shame to the elected officals who let it happened. SHELL have polluted more than 50 community water wells in California a few years back. The Governor Gray Davis stated that $hell had acted with malice, since the company withheld information and knew about the dangers or the carcinogens that polluted the water. California have some of the strictist regulations in the world and yet it happened there. More than 50 communities water were destroyed so shell have no cares about one little o'l lake that their destroying in ERRIS. shell were fined by a trial jurry for 28 million, but over here in Erris Officals look the other way while our drinking water is being destroyed and they drink bottle water...
Shell have stated that they are going to start drilling up the bay in April 08 we'll sea about that!! All this and no pipeline route as of yet;;;;;;.
"Shell have stated that they are going to start drilling up the bay in April 08 we'll sea about that!! All this and no pipeline route as of yet"
Why do you think we are drilling up the bay?
You have got what you wanted the pipe away from people!
the power shell has comes from europe as well as our so called goverment .
russia handed out cheap drilling licences under borris yelsen when the country was poor when these companies start pumping out billions worth of natural resources russias new goverment clamed back 50.01 % of the company our goverment would not have the courage to take this stand.
worrying that the us and europe would go to war with russia over its oil and gas as they did with iraq and afganistan russia has formed an alliance with china iran mongolia and other big countries who have large natural resources and other countries who depend on them for natural resources.
russia would be happy to do buisness with ireland i mean drilling and giveing us a far share of the natural resources but our goverment wont have any relationship with russia because the usa and europe say so that is why shell have as much power as they do their is a undercover war going on out their and the west is caught in the middle try takeing a case to europe on the grounds of our constatution that all the irish natual and raw materials belong to the people of ireland or any other loophole you can find andyou will see how much europe alone are supporting shell alll the new countries who broke away from russia and joined europe be aware and protect your natural resources as you are very rich in these materials and france and the uk want and need them to keep their economys ticking espeically romania the biggest country in europe rich in gold oil gas gold metal lead and lots more the germans offered to drill a tunnel trough the mountains for them for free if they allowed them to keep all the material they found this says it all rich countries trying to manipulate poor countries.
"You have got what you wanted the pipe away from people!"
The bay is right on top of the the people, and it is in the middle of a conservation area. What is "wanted" is for Shell to show a tiny bit of respect for the community. Not alternate brutality and bribes...
(and hey lyncher- respect for your point but have you ever thought of using papragraphs?)
Oh no! We're in trouble now. The Apopogists have reached for the Doomsday machine - sarcasm. As usual, they're not very good at it
but it means that now, if we want to try to make any sense of their pathetic ramblings we'll have to delve through an overlay of puerile
irony as well. This Troll-bashing is getting too easy; If they don't start giving us a game fairly soon I'll have to go back to compiling my list
of Bertie Aherne's Top 50 Bullshit Excuses.
Anyway, this thread is about the Dooncarton Landslide Committee. Let's look at the facts:
McDonnell accepted Shell money independently of the Committee and it immediately disbanded. Let's hear the Trolls spin that one for
us. I haven't seen them address it yet. Let's put it into context: 5 of the 7 people on the Committe voted for immediate dissolution.
That's about 70%, which is totally consistent with the 80% of local residents who have already signed against the Project, and the 30
plus submissions recently made to Mayo Co. Co. concerning the Council's receipt of money from Shell for the Aughoose road, all but 3
of which were against the proposal, with one submission alone containing over 100 signatures.
What this means in black and white is that the only grouping in Kilcommon still in favour of the current Refinery proposal is a collection of
Gombeenmen, Sleeveens, Bagmen, Glicíns and Bottom Feeders who still see an oppoprtunity to turn a buck on this project.
Spin that.
It's now 8 hours since I posted the above challenge.
The silence has been deafening.
It looks like the attempt at irony was too much for the communal Troll brain cell to sustain.
Maybe they'll be back tomorrow with a personal attack on some S2S member.
That's about the extent of their ability.
We're blessed with our enemies.
What an arrogant, dishonest person Gerard McDonnell is! To arrange funding privately with Shell without consulting with his committee as he knew they would not agree was a disgraceful action. He accepts a personal cheque from Shell. Where is the proof that it was paid to Mayo County Council ?
Eamonn O Colleain informs us that Gerard is on several committees. He should be run off them as he is not fit to represent any community, especially the project monitoring committee.
He is obviously trying to join the majority Shell Cheer Leaders on Mayo County Council who care nothing for the environment or the Erris community, except to ensure there is no resistence to anything that Shell needs done. How many Council Members are Shell Shareholders?
It would actually be better if McDonnell had just trousered the money. This way, Shell have just given 10 thousand quid to Mayo County Council, but they can claim that they are giving grants to local community groups. McDonnel is just a handy local mouthpiece to disguise the reality.
Fearbolg is waiting for a Shell troll to come on here defending Gerard McDonnell, but I don't think you will find many who would condone what Mr. McDonnell did.
So Fearbolg, you could have quite a wait on your hands.
I for one (not a troll) will not attempt to defend the indefensible, what Gerard McDonnell done was Stupid, deceitful and wrong.
I agree with the previous poster who says he should be asked to leave any other committees he is involved with, as he has shown himself to be dishonest.
I also have no intention of posting a personal attack on some S2S member in response to your challenge, why would I?.
If the majority of the landslide committee were against accepting funding from Shell, that application should never have been submitted, simple as that.
Do you think Shell knew about it? They should really sack him now, but I doubt they will.
I doubt Shell knew what he was up to, I am pretty sure their PR people wouldn't have touched it if they knew.
Let it be a lesson to others, if people have a problem accepting funding from shell then that is their choice and they should not be conned into accepting it.
I note 'Gogarty's' comments with interest. While giving 'Gogarty' the benefit of the doubt this time on whether or not it's a troll, the fact remains that its comments to date have been pro $hell - and herein lies the interest.
'Gogarty' states that what McDonnell done (sic) was 'stupid, deceitful and wrong' and goes further to agree with a previous post which stated that McDonnell should be routed from all other committees on which he's got himself because he is now shown to be dishonest.
What's of interest here is the potential for this to grow into something bigger that $hell doesn't want to touch with a bargepole. When taken from the local context into the wider world where there are issues of corporate governence and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to be addressed, this sort of stuff could land $hell in doodoo land.
The straightforward bribery and corruption thing of brown envelopes has become passe but, of course, other means have been devised to facilitate 'facilitation' payments. This episode fits that pattern and being found out in such practices does not go down well in the wider context of continuing doubts over $hell's claims to be rehabilitated as a half-decent company.
This should also be taken as a salutory lesson by all $hell apologists - you're useful pawns to come to $hell's Begging Bowl but, when (perhaps overtaken by your exhuberance on $hell's behalf) you do something stupid, then $hell will hang you out to dry ...
I await 'Gogarty's' response with interest.
Shell are happy to throw breadcrumbs to the locals in return for millions. The very fact that this has happened is a damning indictment of the local politicians who have stood like rabbits in the headlights while Shell trod all over their constituents.
It reflects very badly on Ring and Kenny who are supposed to be in Opposition but who have sold out their own people for a pittance.
Shame!
It is time the S2S group realises that they are not the center of this world, I doubt if Shell have, or ever had "Troll's" who would counter arguments/claims from opponents on indymedia.
Maura's assertion that "the fact remains that my comments to date have been pro $hell - and herein lies the interest."
I would have phrased that sentence in this way,""the fact remains that my comments to date have been "Factual" - and herein lies the facts."
It is as simple as that, if the facts are pro-Shell there is nothing I or anybody else can do about that, but don't automatically assume I am in their pay just because the FACTS don't suit your cause.
Maura goes on to say "What's of interest here is the potential for this to grow into something bigger that $hell doesn't want to touch with a bargepole".
Well Maura, here is your chance to "grow/nurture" this potential, why not engage in a campaign to inform the public that Mr. McDonnell and Shell conspired to con the public into believing that shell has more support than they actually have.
But Maura isn't going to do that, no she knows that once she states that in the real media, she will have opened herself to a defamation claim, which she will lose.
Finally "you do something stupid, then $hell will hang you out to dry".
On this I totally agree, and I wouldn't blame them.
I would like to put on the record that I believe that Mr. McDonnell and Shell conspired to con the public into believing that Shell has more support than they actually have.
My phone number and postal address is available by sending an email to [email protected]
I will look forward to hearing from either Mr McDonnell's or Shell's solicitors.
Tadhg McGrath put on record his belief that 'Gerard McDonnell and Shell conspired to con the public into believing that Shell has more support than they actually have'.
Tadhg provided the link to his postal address.
I second what Tadhg has posted - for the record, it appears from $hell's reaction to queries about their claimed grant of monies to the Dooncarton Landslide Committee - which claim has been comprehensively demolished - that they are trying to extricate themselves from a potentially fraught position ($hell and McDonnell are well aware of my postal address).
The closeness of McDonnell to $hell is well known.
Do the apologists really think that $hell and/or McDonnell would challenge Tadhg and/or myself through the courts???
God help what little sense is left between your ears ...
Are now down to trying to win a debate about funding issues, I wonder if you can see you little world shrinking or admitt that the Tara watchers are a little closer to dublin that you community?
Len,
Shell keep saying that "community consent" is important to them. They trumpet their grants to "community groups" on their website.
Is it not interesting that the company is shown to be dealing in corrupt methods to try to pretend they have community support when they haven't?
You dont seem to be able to figure that if a representative from a community organisation persues a grant application without the consent of the organisation he claims to represent then shell are not to blame. I belive they have withdrawn from this gent since its been uncovered?
So can you question where were the funds about to go to?
Len, the man in question has been working closely with Shell for a while now.
Why on earth would he do this for himself? Who was going to benefit from it?
You may not think the Shell to Sea campaign is justified, but don't take the people of Mayo for fools.
This seems to be a new tactic for all the gas companies now, probably as a result of the opposition to Shell in Rossport. A new "terminal" has just been granted permission by an bord pleanala on the Shannon Estuary, and one of the conditions is that they pay 200,000 euro to the local community.
I wonder what percentage 200 grand is??
It seems now that Gerard McDonell want to be protect from the coastal road and wanted barriers erected in front of his 10 bed house on the Glenglad rd. He met with shell behind closed doors !! sounds like this happen before, didn't EX minister Ray Burke do the same, met $hell with out other committee members. He then aledgely gave it to the co council so they could match the funds to 20.000. So he wanted the funds for his own use for enhancing the road out side his home, by prentending to be Dooncarton Landeslide committee and saying its for everyone safety, SHIT: what does he care about the locals, safety when he endorses $hell and their puppet friends, Who the fuck would want to be $H£LL'S FRIEND . They have a great track record for killing and putting you in jail if you disagree with them. It's for the total misinformation to state that $HELL has much more support then they actual have. $H£LL wouldn't give away any $$££ if they had all the consent that they say they have.
At approx. 8.15 this morning one of my daughters, who resides in Galway, awoke to find 5 men surrounding her bed. They were dressed in casual clothes and one of then said 'Look what we have here'.
These people had barged their way into the dwelling and proceeded to search same interrogating residents in the process. Then my daughter was awoken in a threatening, frightening and aggressive manner and was watched by all five as she got out of bed to try to deal with this traumatic happening.
Most of these people failed to adequately identify themselves - they claimed they were guards and, on insistence, one showed ID; one flashed ID; one gave his name; one gave his first name, refused to give his surname and his colleagues claimed not to know his surname; the fifth didn't identify himself in any way.
I learned of this on my way to work By coincidence I was listening to Morning Ireland which reported that, in Zimbabwe, members of Mugabe's opposition had been visited by plain clothes police the previous night.
I have posted this here because it would appear that McDonnell's duplicity and failure to 'deliver' the Dooncarton Landslide Committee is bothering $hell so a diversionary tactic was called for.
Another possible explanation is that the $hell Begging Bowl tableau at the march in Dublin last Saturday is getting to $hell and their government good buddies ...
Just before 10am cameraman Bourke (minus camera) and Gill ($hell traffic management person) - both paid for by taxpayers as guards; other payments suspected but unproven as of date - called in unmarked car to our principal private dwelling.
They inquired if Iollan was in the house and confirmed there was no arrest warrant issued for him.
They left to liaise with local cop; as of 10 min ago a paddy wagon has passed the house driven by MY28 ...
Did the Gardai give any reason for the harrassment?
Has a dawn raid got to do with the topic of this thread?
It shows another aspect of the measures taken to impose the Shell scheme on the receiving community.
While Shell and friends are issuing press releases saying that they are pumping money into things like the Landslide committee, their agents in the gardaí are keeping up a campaign of intimidation, bullying and criminalisation of the local people.
They are two sides of the same coin.
When a multinational has fixed its sights on a community like Erris for destruction and gross exploitation, local democracy, consent and consultation are the first things to get trampled by rampaging politicians, 'local businessmen' (yes in NW Mayo they're all men - the $h€ll/Chamber of Horrors nexus has never fielded a 'local businesswoman' to front up their fake grassroots; perhaps that'll be the new tactic) and Gardaí. People in the directly affected areas around Rossport and Bellanaboy are every day confronted by the reality that the government that purports to serve them is conniving in the destruction of their environment and community in order to better serve $h€ll. Given that Erris has supplied the Irish state with schoolteachers, Gardaí and civil servants all through its existence, the current state of affairs is seen by the locals as a very deep betrayal of a trust placed in the state apparatus to rule in the 'common good'.
In the situation developing in the Shannon estuary around the proposed LNG terminal, the Greena Fáil coalition have come up with what they obviously think is a wise and just solution to local concerns about the safety and suitability of a project foisted upon a community without any meaningful or sincere consultation - get the multinational to pay 200 grand in hush money! It does seem that our rulers in Greena Fáil think that 400 €500 notes can repair the damage done to a community's safety, tranquillity, and sense of belonging and mattering in this community of communities we know as Ireland. Bertie, Biffo, and and the suited zombies of the corporate sphere believe that legal tender is some kind of sovereign remedy for all social ills, especially the ones they're directly responsible for.
Having said all that, there is no need to feel pity for the people standing against this warped value system - the people of Erris and all those who support their cause know what things are truly of value in this world, and they are prepared to defend them no matter what violence, obscenity or perverted value system $h€ll, Greena Fáil or their besuited (or uniformed) fellow-travellers would foist upon them. In fact, it is those who would privilege concentrations of wealth before people, planet and democracy who are truly deserving of pity - they are only gilded slaves to a self-perpetuating misery and they have neither the wit nor the humility to see the way out from this war of all against all. Even so, there are limits to a sane person's generosity of spirit when faced with unreasoning greed and stupidity, and there have been gross insults to an inoffensive community that will have to be avenged in the fullness of time. The restitution will have to go beyond mere apology. It certainly won't involve 'bungs' of 200 grand, or 200,000 grand!
Cryptic Galwa yis not the recieving community in this case.
If the Gardai deem it necessary to raid a house then i would imagine theres someone breaking the law there in. So again can that accusation be detailed out? i doubt it.
"If the Gardai deem it necessary to raid a house then i would imagine theres someone breaking the law there in"
Why? have you no experience of the police walking in to houses without warrants or any clear reason? Have you no experience of the Gardaí at all?
Anyway, why the great interest?
It couldn't be that you're hoping for a response that might prejudice a future court case or ombudsman report could it?