The Great Gas Robbery

Fishermen Pat and Jonathon O’Donnell were arrested while working at their fishing grounds in the waters off Erris, Co.Mayo at the end of June. In two separate incidents, Jonathan was arrested, and his boat tugged, while Pat was injured by Gardai and has been taken to hospital. Both were arrested for ‘loitering’ in the sea, their workplace.
One Shell to Sea protester, Willie Corduff, required hospitalization after an encounter with masked men at the Shell compound at 4am on Thursday April 23rd. The fishing boat of another key Shell to Sea activist, Pat O’Donnell, was boarded at 2am on Thursday 11th June by four masked and armed men who proceed to sink the boat, leaving the two men on board to fend for themselves. What is striking is the almost complete failure of the Irish media to investigate any of these stories in a serious way.
These incidents make a mockery of guarantees made to local fishermen while they are going about their work, following the recent sinking of Pat O’Donnell’s vessel, the Iona Isle, by masked men. The fishermen have a lawful right to fish in the bay, and neither Shell nor the Gardai have been able to show any legal reason to stop them from doing so.
The fishermen are opposed to the damage being done to the bay by Shell’s underwater pipe laying works, and particularly the danger from their discharge pipe to the environment of Broadhaven Bay. The Solitaire, the largest pipe-laying ship in the world, has now arrived in the Bay and hundreds of Gardai have been deployed to the area as well as two ship of the Irish Navy.
Upwards of 40 Gardai have moved into place below the Rossport Solidarity Camp, and have stated their intention to deny access to the public beach and to the sea, but they have failed to state any reason for this.
Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway said: 'Pat O’ Donnell was illegally arrested twice last year from his boat. The Gardai are aware that these were illegal arrests as Pat's boat is not only private property, but also his workplace. This stance has been vindicated by the fact that Mr. O’Donnell has not been charged, never mind convicted, of any crime from these incidents.'
At least 156 private security personnel work, on what Shell calls, the 'Corrib Project'. The level of force being deployed to impose the Shell pipeline project on the local population is a testimony to the long running resistance of the people of Erris, a resistance that so far has not been broken by dozens of arrests, violence and the most vitriolic of attacks from paid hacks in the mainstream media. For more information see Shell to Sea.