February 2010

* Winner - Best Feature Documentary - Waterford Film Festival 2009 *

Pipe Down is an hour long documentary that tells the story of a rural community in Co. Mayo in Ireland, who have been battling the oil giant Shell over their plans to put a dangerous raw gas pipeline through the community and complete construction of a gas processing terminal that is a threat to their delicate environment.

THE DEPARTMENT of the Environment has received more than 130 submissions in response to a foreshore licence application by Shell EP Ireland for investigative work in north Mayo’s Sruwaddacon estuary.

The company aims to drill up to 80 boreholes in the estuary, which is a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC), as part of site investigation work for the Corrib gas onshore pipeline route.

The work, costing between €5 million and €10 million according to the company, will take place over a five- to seven-month period in the narrow intertidal estuary running between the communities of Rossport, Glengad and Pollathomas.

Late last year, An Bord Pleanála suggested that the Corrib gas developers might explore the estuary as an alternative to a modified onshore route. The board found half of the modified 9km route to be “unacceptable” on safety grounds, due to proximity to housing in Rossport and between Glengad and Aughoose.

Shell consultants RPS had ruled against running the high-pressure pipeline through Sruwaddacon on environmental and technical grounds two years ago.

Shell to Sea has called on the Minister for Environment John Gormley to protect the environment and turn down Shell's application for a foreshore license which would entail carrying out destructive surveying works in Sruwaddacon estuary.

“Sruwaddacon estuary is a very important part of the local landscape, as well as being both an environmentally protected SAC and an SPA,” said Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway. “The proposed works would have a very damaging effect on the protected salmon and bird-life that populate the area.

I have a particular interest in any news or story about the land and people of Ireland, whether the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. I always have a longing to undertake an expedition to the place. The former is located in the northwestern Europe, with its headquarters at Dublin, while the latter edges on the southern and western axles of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom (UK) with its capital at Belfast. The two countries (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) are just one people and one country.