A number of people have contacted us re the Shell Broadhaven Rossport Story.
In order to present an overall balanced view we contacted people on both sides.

To present the other side, we sent a number of questions to Shell's Mark Carrigy. We reproduce our questions together with Shell's answers in "Corrib Gas Project, The Shell Position".

The Corrib Gas field, a huge asset to this country in terms of natural resources lies about 50 miles off the Erris coast of North West Mayo. This reserve of gas and oil now belongs to Shell (45%), Statoil (36.5%) and Marathon (18.5%), because the rights to this gas were given away to the oil companies in 1987 by then Minister for Energy, Ray Burke, since convicted and sent to prison for corruption.

Shell will tell you that there are 0.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in Corrib that they value at about €2.5 billion. In 1998 however, surveyors Wood McKensie estimated the reserve to be between 3 - 7 TCF and given today’s prices, Padraig Campbell, spokesperson for SIPTU national offshore committee, estimates its value to be closer to about €30 billion.

Normally, if a country invites an oil company to process its oil and/or gas, it’s a 50/50 deal, half for the oil company and half for the owner, which in this case is the Irish State. But Ray Burke abandoned the 50% Government stake and abolished any payment of royalties leaving Shell and the consortium in the position now where they can exploit our natural resource without paying a penny in royalties to the State.

To add insult to injury, a dangerous and unprecedented high pressure pipeline is proposed along 10km of the Erris coast through the fields of local farmers who, because of health and safety concerns, have been defending their lands and refusing entry to Shell workers into their fields. Shell with the cooperation of the Irish Government, the Courts and the Judicial System are attempting to bully the local people off their land, ignoring their rights and wishes, and having little or no regard for safety regulations, planning law and environmental concerns.

Frank Fahey, ex-Minister for the Marine & Natural Resources, under Compulsory Acquisition Order legislation gave Shell a licence to start work on an unprecedented high pressure raw gas pipeline through the fields of local farmers. This is the first time in the history of this State that Compulsory Acquisition Orders have been used in the interest of a foreign private company or for any project other than one considered to be in the national interest. In other words, it appears this Government changed the law to suit Shell. Did they [government] seek the consent of the local people for this project? No. Did they even consult with them? No

Brendan Philbin, who has just spent 94 days in jail, will tell you that when Shell tried to get on to his land for the first time last winter, he asked them for documentation to prove that what they were planning to do was both legal and safe. They refused to show him any documentation then and he hasn’t seen it yet. Because of this and because their own research gives them reason to fear for their lives and the lives of their families and community, Brendan, Bríd Mc Garry, Willie Corduff & Philip Mc Grath supported by Philip’s brother Vincent Mc Grath and their old school teacher Micheál Ó Seighin, have been refusing to allow Shell on to their land since January of this year.

Shell took them to the High Court and were given an injunction against them threatening them with imprisonment if they continued their protest. This, in spite of their expressions of concern to the court with regard to the lack of consultation and the withholding of ‘consent’ documentation by Shell. After a number of visits to court and after the men refused to assure him that they would obey the injunction, the judge sent them to jail for contempt of court.

I believe the Corrib Gas Project is not in the national interest, will afford no benefits to the State and will put the lives of local people in extreme danger. It will give away a huge natural resource. The Government's facilitation of this project and its betrayal of its citizens is, in my opinion, nothing short of treason.

The men were sent to jail on June 29th 2005. A few weeks before, something happened in Rossport which proved to be a significant event in terms of the Shell to Sea campaign, the vindication the Rossport Five and the ending of the Corrib Gas Project, as currently proposed.

The ‘Reclaim the Beach, Solidarity Gathering’, took place over the Bank Holiday weekend of June 5th - 7th. About 200 people; concerned citizens from all over the country and abroad, including Sr Majella Mc Carron friend to Ken Saro-Wiwa of Ogoni, Nigeria, came to Rossport for this weekend of information workshops and tours of the proposed pipeline route and the area. The June gathering was an initiative of Terry Clancy who had come to Rossport in January, to do a report for Indymedia Ireland, www.indymedia.ie, when Shell started to move in on the land. Terry offered media and publicity help to the local campaign, organised public meetings around the country with Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington, and gained the trust of the community of Rossport. He suggested bringing some friends, campaigners and grassroots activists to Rossport with a view to informing them what was going on in the hope that some might lend their support to the fight against Shell and the Government. Those who came, set up a simple camp in local man Ray Corduff’s field with a cooking tent for the 'bitchin kitchen' cooking collective, a tipi for workshops, a stage built on the back of turf trailers for talks and music and a camp fire. The weekend was a great success and a meeting around the campfire on Sunday between visitors, locals and local campaigners resulted in the broadening of the campaign to a national and even international level. Those who had come were asked for their support. Some responded with a commitment to go home and start working on the campaign in their own areas and others said they’d come back to Rossport to support the work on the ground in defending the land in helping to maintain a physical presence on the ground and in the fields of Rossport.

In the few weeks before the men were sent to jail, small groups organised together around the country, discussion email lists were set up locally and nationally, public meetings were organised, facts and figures were studied and compiled, flyers and posters were made, information was shared and published in the media, the website boiled over with analysis, information and events. TD’s were challenged and serious work was done to inform the nation about concerns over the Corrib Gas Project.

When the men were sent to jail, there were pickets and blockades of Shell and Statoil garages. Blockades were set up at the Shell compounds in Rossport and Glengad and at the refinery site 10km inland at Bellanaboy and the Rossport Solidarity Camp was born.

The Rossport Solidarity Camp was set up in response to a call from Philip Mc Grath the night before he went to jail. In early July the camp was set up on his land, in a field directly over the proposed pipeline route. A large marquee was erected with a kitchen for cooking and eating, sleeping and meeting. Compost toilets and compost heaps were built to deal with organic waste and the rest was recycled. A wind turbine system was set up to harness wind energy giving electricity to power lights, mobile phones and computers.

Many people came to visit and to stay at the camp, from Ireland and Europe and as far abroad as New Zealand, working together in a spirit of commitment, respect and integrity. Decisions were made by consensus at daily meetings.

The Rossport Solidarity Week took place at the camp from Monday 22nd – Sunday 28th ending in the 10th Grassroots Gathering. This brought many more people to Rossport for a week of actions, talks and workshops including talks on ’The Peak Oil Crisis’ by Graham Strouts and ’Sustainable Energy’ by Andy Wilson, who both supported the camp and who contribute to this newspaper. Similar campaigns met up and forged links resulting in an improved ‘grassroots’ network committed to working to fight the State who sometimes appear determined to facilitate private companies and developers against the wishes and concerns of citizens and local communities.

The efforts of the camp and the local campaigners have succeeded together in stopping all work by Shell on the Corrib Gas Project. The Shell to Sea campaign, locally and nationally, has succeeded in forcing Shell to lift the injunction on the Rossport Five and as most readers will know, they have been released from prison. The campaign will go on until Shell and the Government agree to the proposal for an offshore shallow water refinery terminal and until the original deal is renegotiated. The blockades remain at Rossport and Bellanaboy. The camp is broken down for the winter and the campers have moved into the 'Rossport Solidarity House', which will function in the same way as the camp with the added advantage of an office with online access, as well as preparing to set up again, new and improved, next Spring. All welcome.

For more info on the campaign see the website www.shelltosea.com and www.indymedia.ie or www.indymedia.ie/mayo .