I’ve been thinking of posting on this subject for a while, but I don’t really know the full story. And searching webland reveals a whole lot of noise, but not a lot of data. And maybe that is the problem.
For non-Irishers, the Rossport Five are five farmers from Rossport Co. Mayo who have disrupted the building of a Shell pipeline which will run from the Corrib Gas Field through farmland and past houses to the refinery. The farmers say that it isn’t safe, and that they will continue to try to halt Shell’s work.
So Shell took them to court resulting in the Rossport Five being jailed for breaching an injunction, and as they have said they are not willing to simply stand back, it appears they have been sent to jail for an indefinate period of time, or as the judge saiduntil they purged their contempt
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I am a daughter of Micheál Ó Seighin, one of the Rossport Five. He is not a farmer and neither is Vincent McGrath, another jailed Rossport man. Shell speak of trying to speak to the landowners but neglect to tell you that they refused to meet the above two men. They do not own any land that the proposed pipeline is going through and according to Shell, do not need to be consulted and are not entitled to have any concerns about an unprecedented high pressure unrefined gas pipeline!!! They built a septic tank in their compund in Rossport without any planning permission and LIED to our County Council ( in charge of planning ) about it. This lie was caught out after locals INSISTED it be dug. They have been issued warnings. If they lie about this, something that would propably have got planning permission, to our authorities what else will they do? Some websites to visit which might be of interest http://www.indymedia.ie/mayo http://www.freetherossportfive.com http://www.shelltosea.ie
One of the entries in the indymedia site is the statement prepared by Micheál Ó Seighin for the day he was sent to jail. It is very informative. Please check this out. The Irish people are being treated like fools. Thankfully they are coming out in droves to show their support. People driving a 10 hour round trip to attend rallys in Belmullet. Over 1,000 people a day boycotting Shell and Statoil service stations all over the country. There was a rally in New Orleans and Wisconsin University have a Boycott Shell campaign to show their support for the people of Rossport, of Erris and of Ireland. We are no longer alone and are so heartened by it. We knew it would take something big to grap the nations interest and I greatly admire the five men willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.
"The project is the subject of considerable controversy, as the entire project is being undertaken in a populated area. The village of Rossport is located nearby, and some homes are located less than 200m from the intended path of the pipeline (with a road running within 90m of it). The safety standards for such a high-pressure pipe (345 bar) dictate a 750 m buffer zone (although expected blast radius from a rupture would be 900m). There are currently no plans to ensure this limit is adhered to (current plans are to ignore nearby dwellings rather than reroute the pipeline or issue CPOs)."Quote taken from Wikipedia encyclopedia.
Who in their right mind would wish to be near such a pipeline? The pressure of the pipeline going into the average home is c.20 bar. Well educated Irish Citizens are in jail because they object to the siting of this potentially dangerous pipeline next to their homes. Why does the Irish Government or Brussels allow this situation to happen? These jailed people did not just appear out of the woodwork with their objections. The whole saga has been going through Irish Planning Process for four years or so, and we end up with this mess. Is it any wonder that voters throughout the EU voted against the revised Constitution when big businesses can use the law to override natural and existing constitutional rights to safety and ownership of property.