Irish Community calls for support in struggle against Shell

For over seven years a small community in a Gaelic speaking area on the west coast of Ireland has been fighting against plans by Shell oil and the Irish government to build a gas refinery and high pressure pipeline near their homes and an area of outstanding beauty.

If built the proposed refinery and pipeline would have a detrimental effect on the local environment and the community it sustains. The resulting pollution of currently clean air and water would adversely affect health, wildlife and livelihoods based on fishing, farming and tourism. The high-pressure gas pipeline would pose an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of the people in the area.

The community and campaign organising against the project have called themselves 'Shell to Sea' because they are calling for the gas to be cleaned in a clean safe manner at sea on a rig or using 'twister technology'.

The proposed refinery site is situated on an area of blanket bog in the middle of a rural community and in the catchment area of Carrowmore Lake: a special area of conservation (S.A.C.) and the drinking water source for 10,000 people. The pipeline, with a capacity of up to 345 bar, is planned to run through a special area of conservation, under public roads and near homes through an area of unstable bog land. The outfall pipe from the refinery would pump polluted water into the pristine Broadhaven Bay, a special area of conservation, breeding ground for whales and dolphins and basis of the local fishing industry.

In June 2005 five men from the community were jailed for 94 days for refusing to allow Shell engineers to stake out the route of the pipeline without guarantees of the pipe’s safety. From June 2005, when the ‘Rossport 5’ as they became known were jailed, until October 2006 residents in the area maintained pickets at all Shell’s work sites effectively stopping work for sixteen months. On the 3rd October almost two hundred police were drafted into the area to facilitate Shell in restarting work. Since October large numbers of police have remained in the area. Police have a policy of non-arrest and have instead used violence to deter protesters. On 10th November 2006 local campaigners and their supporters were baton charged while
conducting a peaceful protest at the proposed refinery site.

In April 2007 Willie Corduff a local community activist won the Goldman Prize, 'the Nobel Prize for the environment' in recognition of the struggle of he and his neighbours against Shell. The prize has bolstered our campaign but the struggle is far from over.

We are calling for support from people in Australia in our struggle against Shell. People all over the world from Ireland to Australia know what it is to struggle against the might of multinationals. We are demanding that the needs of all our communities and the environments that sustain us are prioritised over the profits of big business.

What you can do:

*Get informed: www.shelltosea.com, www.indymedia.ie/mayo for regular updates. There
are several short films on www.youtube.com, (type in 'rossport' or 'shell to sea').
Contact rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com for hard copies of films.
*Protest at the Irish embassy or consulate, demanding that the Irish government supports our communities not Shell!
Embassy of Ireland, 20 Arkana Street, Yarralumla, ACT 2600, Canberra, Australia.
Tel: (61) 06 273 3022. Fax: (61) 06 273 3741.
Consulate General of Ireland, Level 26, 1 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Tel:+612 9264 9635, Fax:+612 9264 9740
Honorary Consul of Ireland, First Floor, Records Office,295 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Tel: 00 61 3 9397 8940, Fax: 00 61 3 9397 8869
See http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=5435 for more details on Irish consulates
and embassy and consulate.
*Protest at Shell offices and petrol stations (www.shell.com)
*Organise a public meeting or film showing.