News Release: Vermilion's Luxembourg tax deal will further reduce revenue from Corrib – by how much?

 -- Corporation tax is only means of extracting revenue from Irish resources --

Shell to Sea has called on Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Alex White to clarify what impact Corrib Gas partner Vermilion's Luxembourg tax avoidance deal – revealed in today's Irish Times – will have on the revenue the exchequer thinks it will earn from the Corrib gas field. [1]
 
Spokesperson Maura Harrington said: "Under Ireland's dysfunctional licensing terms, corporation tax is the only means the State uses to extract revenue from gas or oil found under Irish territory. Today's revelation that Vermilion is using a Luxembourg tax avoidance deal to reduce its tax bill in Ireland raises serious questions for Minister Alex White and the Government."
 
"The 'Luxleaks' disclosure confirms what campaigners and others have warned about for many years – that creative accounting means the revenue earned from a gas field such as Corrib will be only a tiny fraction of the revenue these multinationals generate for their private and out-of-state shareholders. [2]

Corrib gas partner using Luxembourg deal to reduce tax bill

By: 
Colm Keena - Irish Times

Canadian firm Vermilion bought 18.5% of gas field in 2009 using hybrid instruments

The Canadian oil group that owns 18.5 per cent of the Corrib gas project made its investment using a complicated structure agreed with the Luxembourg tax authorities.

An advanced tax agreement between Vermilion Energy Trust and the Luxembourg authorities was negotiated by PwC on behalf of the Canadian company in November 2009.

The structure put in place for the investment uses what are called hybrid instruments, financial arrangements that have been targeted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in its effort to reform the global tax regime.

Posted Date: 
7 November 2014
Link: 

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/corrib-gas-partner-using-luxe...

We need to talk about the Gardaí

By: 
Tom Hanahoe, Terence Conway & John Monaghan - The Village

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Political compliance and media silence on scandals redolent of police state. By Tom Hanahoe, Terence Conway and John Monaghan

BETWEEN May 2007 and November 2009, 111 complaints about alleged Garda violence and intimidation were submitted to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission – established in 2005 and invested with more public hope than legislative power – by campaigners opposing Shell’s Corrib Gas Project in Kilcommon Parish in north west Mayo. Not one of the accused gardaí was disciplined. Gardaí often seem to be above the law. Unaccountable.

Posted Date: 
5 November 2014
Link: 

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2014/11/we-need-to-talk-about-th...

Big oil, small village... The protester

By: 
Sarah McCabe - Sunday Independent
 

Maura Harrington is a retired primary school principal and spokesperson for the Shell to Sea campaign. She lives about 25km from the Corrib gas terminal and has protested against the project since its very early days.

Maura Harrington, Shell to Sea Campaign at the entrance to the Gas Terminal at Bellanaboy Bridge, Co. Mayo. Photograph : Keith Heneghan / Phocus

What they did was place a major industrial site on a greenfield area. In the 21st century, dirty industry is not innovative.

"Jobs at any cost is not a good enough reason to place a major industrial site in a beauty spot. Where do we draw the line? About 40 years ago someone tried to get a nuclear power plant built here, citing emigration. And it hasn't even been the answer to unemployment.

"Erris remains bedevilled by emigration - Shell is not the great white hope. The gas terminal has caused real division in this area. Its legacy will far outweigh any short-term jobs.

"What about jobs for people in the area who are opposed to Shell? Why should they be left behind? One of my children is unemployed, he wouldn't take a job with Shell and has no choice but to emigrate.

Posted Date: 
26 October 2014
Link: 

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/big-oil-small-village-the-prote...

Press Release - Shell to Sea dismisses Shell’s PR as “beads and baubles”

News Release - Issued by Shell to Sea

Shell to Sea dismisses Shell’s announcement that it will provide €750,000 installing fibre-optic broadband as a fistful of beads and baubles in comparison with the billions of euros worth of gas that was gifted to them in the Corrib Gas field. [1]  

Former Managing Director of the Corrib Gas project, Brian O’Cathain previously stated in 2010 “That Corrib will never pay tax”.[2]

Maura Harrington stated “Shell says it will spend €750,000 (tax deductible), big deal.  Shell again clicks its fingers and Enda Kenny comes toadying to do the needful.”

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