Ryan's madness and folly in Corrib row

By: 
Fintan O'Toole - Irish Times

Vindication of the protesters has created the opportunity to find a political solution, but the Minister is spurning it, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE 

YOU MAY have seen or heard reports that an explosion in a natural gas pipeline, so large that people thought it was an earthquake, killed five people in Connecticut the weekend before last. This was an obvious hoax. It could not have happened.

Natural gas pipelines are completely safe, and people who think otherwise are headbangers, cranks and subversives.

Last November, something interesting happened. It turned out that the headbangers of the Erris peninsula, the “extremists” who have been blocking the completion of Shell’s Corrib Gas project, were neither crazy nor extreme. An Bord Pleanála wrote to Shell’s planners, rejecting the proposed route for half of the gas pipeline, in terms that largely vindicated the protesters.

Link: 

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0216/1224264551755.html

Shell Corrib Gas - Who are the real Thugs & Bullies?

By: 
Niall Harnett - Shell to Sea / Rossport Solidarity Camp


A number of high profile Shell to Sea campaigners including 'the Chief' Pat O'Donnell and Maura Harrington sought to appeal certain criminal convictions in cases heard last week at Castlebar Circuit Court from 9th - 11th February. A few of the appeals were successful but some of the convictions were upheld by the court.

Judge Raymond Groarke concluded that Pat O'Donnell is a thug and a bully, and Maura Harrington is a vigilante.

This article has a look at the reality.

Link: 

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/95795

Massive Works Planned in Erris Waters while "The Chief" in Jail

By: 
Shelver - Rossport Solidarity Camp

Shell Plans to Occupy Broadhaven Bay & Sruth Fhada Chonn Estuary in 2010

Shell plan massive maritime activity for 2010, in Broadhaven Bay to secure the off-shore pipeline, and in Sruth Fhada Chonn estuary to survey a new route for the onshore Corrib gas pipeline. Submissions on the foreshore application close on Feb 23rd.

 

The offshore offshore Environmental Management Plan (EMP) gives details of Shell’s plans to lay concrete and rock over and around the off shore Corrib gas pipeline laid last year to fasten it in place. According to the plans survey work would be carried out during March and April, with the massive concrete and rock placing operation lasting from May right through to September.

Link: 

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/95785

Pat O'Donnell jailed for 7 months for opposing Shell

By: 
Shell to Sea

This afternoon in Castlebar Circuit Court, Shell to Sea campaigner and local fisherman Pat O Donnell (52) was sentenced to 7 months in jail after being found guilty of an alleged “breach of the peace” and allegedly "obstructing a Garda".


 

In total 21 people appeared before Mayo courts today in relation to protests against the Corrib Gas Project. Fourteen campaigners appeared before Belmullet District court which were all adjourned until March, while seven were involved in appeal cases before Judge Raymond Groarke in Castlebar Circuit Court.

Shell to Sea campaigners may face imprisonment despite vindication

By: 
Shelver - Rossport Solidarity Camp

Preview of appeals due in Castlebar on the 9th Feb 2010.

Judge Rory MacCabe is due to hear 14 Shell to Sea related cases scheduled for next Tuesdays sitting of Castlebar circuit court. The stakes are high: Five people are appealing prison sentences imposed last year, and may go directly to jail if they lose their appeals.

Despite the vindication of the campaign by An Bord Pleanála - who in November rejected over half of Shell's latest on-shore pipeline route on safety grounds – those who have rightly campaigned against the project over the years continue to be dragged before the courts, and may well be unjustly imprisoned after Tuesday’s court in Castlebar.

Shell, along with the Government, Gardaí and judiciary would like the event to pass silently, people to go to prison quietly and serve as an example of what can happen if you stand up for your rights.

Link: 

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/95730

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