March 2010

THE GREEN party should withdraw from the coalition with Fianna Fáil “sooner rather than later”, former party senator Déirdre de Búrca has said in a further stinging critique of her former colleagues.

The party had found itself supporting legislation that “conflicts with its fundamental principles”, particularly on Nama, Ms de Búrca claimed.

 A motorised convoy took part in a rally on Sunday in support of jailed Shell to Sea protester Pat O'Donnell. The rally went from Mr O'Donnell's home place at Porturlin, travelled through much of Erris, and finished at Ballyglass Pier fishing port. Mr O'Donnell was sent to Castlerea prison recently for seven months for breaching the peace and obstructing gardaí.

Shell have been planning to drill gas fields off the Western Irish coast at Rossport, County Mayo. There has been a concerted campaign against them, including comprehensive and relentless local opposition bolstered by campaigners from further afield.

This is about transnational corporations getting governments to give them rights to resources, whilst those same corporations ride roughshod over local communities. It's about the local impacts and dangers of building the gas pipeline. It's about the lunacy of drilling more fossil fuels as climate change takes hold. If you have any ability to understand injustice, you will see it plainly at Rossport.

Having travelled from Dublin on Friday to visit Pat O’Donnell in Castlerea Prison, I was encouraged by Pat stating that he was well treated and well respected by prison staff. However, it is an outrage that Pat O’Donnell finds himself in prison at all. He is a victim of the criminalisation of decent people involved in peaceful protest in Erris which highlights the handover of an entire natural resource to a multinational corporation, with not a cent in royalties for the Irish people.