April 2010

LETTERS FROM more than 400 residents of a north Mayo parish who claim that they are being subjected to “ongoing and escalating physical and psychological harassment” have been delivered to Shell EP Ireland.

The 409 signed letters were presented by community representatives yesterday to Shell’s offices in Belmullet, Co Mayo.

The lead Corrib gas developer is still working on a response to An Bord Pleanála in relation to its controversial onshore pipeline route, and has applied to the Department of the Environment for a foreshore licence to conduct further investigative work to this end.

Glengad resident Eamon Ó Murchú, who co-ordinated the delivery of letters with Inver resident Terence Conway, told The Irish Times that the correspondence reflected the depth of feeling in the area about the project.

---Corrib project has been imposed through 'harassment' of the local community--- 

409 letters have been delivered from members of the community of Kilcommon to Shell's Belmullet offices today Monday. The letter outlines their refusal to meet with representatives of the company while Pat O'Donnell remains in jail and the imposition of the Corrib gas project continues without community consent. The letters detail a large number of grievances that the local community have with the imposition of the project, and state that people are refusing to meet with Shell while what “effectively amounts to ongoing and escalating physical and psychological harassement” continues in the area.

The letters dismiss as hollow Shell's proposed 'consultation', in the context of the fact that the current and previous Managing Directors of the company have publicly stated that the project will not be changed in any way in response to community concerns.

EXPLORATION GROUP Providence Resources is set to begin drilling for oil off Dalkey Island in Co Dublin.

The company yesterday issued a statement saying that initial soundings taken in a exploration licence area in the Kish Bank in the Irish Sea, known as the Dalkey Island prospect, indicate that it has the potential to produce oil.

The block covers a large area in the Irish Sea, but its western edge lies off Dalkey, one of Dublin’s swishest neighbourhoods and home to a number of celebrities, including some members of rock group U2.

At the end of last month, in four days of special sittings at Belmullet court in County Mayo, twenty seven Shell to Sea campaigners faced charges relating to protests against Shell's planned pipeline in Erris last year. Amongst those facing charges were seven activists who were initially denied legal aid and bail by Judge Mary Devins despite being charged with minor public order offences.