As the road approaches the Shell gas terminal at Ballinaboy on Ireland's Atlantic west coast, only the posters pinned to the telegraph poles give any hint of the country's longest-running environmental protest.
The uninterrupted view of green fields running down to the ocean could be a screen-grab from an advertisement for the Irish Tourist Board.
But for the past four years this remote but beautiful corner of north Mayo has been the setting for a bitter industrial dispute. At times, hundreds of police have been deployed to break up pickets. And this summer, the tiny hamlets of Glengad and Rossport looked on as two Irish navy frigates moored in Broadhaven Bay, apparently there to stop the protesters' dinghies interfering with the Solitaire, Shell's vast pipe-laying ship.
Exactly how a grass-roots campaign led by a retired schoolteacher and a handful of hill farmers and lobster pot fishermen has frustrated Ireland's most important energy project perplexes industry experts.
NORTH Mayo residents have said that An Bord Pleanála’s ruling on the Corrib gas onshore pipeline is a “vindication” of their stance on health and safety grounds.
Pobal Chill Chomáin spokesman John Monaghan and resident Mary Corduff also said that Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan and his department had “serious questions to answer” in relation to endorsement of the safety of the proposed modified pipeline route at the oral hearing .
An Bord Pleanála has deferred making a final decision on the controversial Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo and has asked Shell Ireland to address concerns it has about its safety.
The 9km onshore pipeline is designed to link the offshore gas field with the multi-million euro refinery being built at Bellanaboy.
THE GARDA Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) has recommended that disciplinary action be taken against a senior member of An Garda Síochána in relation to the handling of a protest over Corrib gas in north Mayo over two years ago.
The RTE show, Would You Believe?, this week featured the Corduff family's struggle against Shell and the State. It was shown on RTE1 on the 25th Oct 09.
Features interviews with Willie, Mary and Liam Corduff as well as some footage from Pollathomais Pier on the 11th June 07.
Credit due to Mick Pello & co for producing and getting a show on RTE, finally, where some of the concerns with the Corrib Gas Project are aired.
Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe’s first contact with a TD came about because he saw Clare Daly TD on ‘Tonight with Vincent Browne’ talking about policing of Corrib Gas protests, writes William Hederman
The repercussions for Garda whistleblowers Maurice McCabe and John Wilson will be familiar to others who have publicly embarrassed An Garda Síochána. They were clearly acting in the public interest, but their revelations brought the force into disrepute, and the two men suffered as a result. Revenge was exacted – not only by colleagues, but also by way of public denunciation by the Garda Commissioner (“disgusting”), the Minister for Justice (“not co-operating”) and by various other parties loyal to the force.