"The Government have clearly sent the message to Shell, ‘you can do whatever you want’. Fortunately due to protest, the refinery remains unconnected to the gas field. If, as Shell planned, gas had been flowing by now, we would potentially all be dealing with a gas leak and explosion.”
On Friday, 22nd October 2010 at 6:15 pm, a film about the community at the centre of the Corrib Gas controversy, entitled ‘The Pipe’, will screen at the British Film Institute in Southbank – only a few hundred metres away from the headquarters of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. It was here in this building on the 22nd July 2002, that the Committee of Managing Directors of Shell met to discuss, among other things, the recent refusal of planning consent for the Corrib gas field refinery by the Irish Planning Board. The following decision taken here by the senior Shell management team would set in train a collision course between a tiny community and the Irish State, and one which would have devastating consequences for the inhabitants of the small coastal village of Rossport.
For details of screenings on the 22nd, 23rd and 25th of October at the British Film Institute at Southbank, London, please visit:
London Film Festival – The Pipe
View BFI Southbank & Shell Centre in a larger map
Paddy Briggs worked for Shell for 37 years, the last 15 of which were in international brand and reputation management appointments. Today, through his BrandAware™ consultancy, he advises businesses on brand and reputation management issues. Paddy is a prolific writer and journalist, especially on his specialist business subjects and on sport. He is also one of two pensioner-elected trustees of the £13 billion Shell Contributory Pension Fund.