Gas, Oil and the Irish State review: Pumping up Ireland’s coffers

By: 
Lorna Siggins - Irish Times

Amanda Slevin’s study of our energy policy pre- and post-Corrib is a must for policymakers

Dismantling a section of the Corrib gas line at Aughoose, Co Mayo. When Seán Lemass signed the State’s first exploration agreement in 1959, the Irish subsidiary of Messman-Rinehart was given exclusive rights to both onshore and offshore drilling – for a sum of £500. Photographer: Dara Mac Dónaill

Dismantling a section of the Corrib gas line at Aughoose, Co Mayo. When Seán Lemass signed the State’s first exploration agreement in 1959, the Irish subsidiary of Messman-Rinehart was given exclusive rights to both onshore and offshore drilling – for a sum of £500. Photographer: Dara Mac Dónaill

Mohammad Mossadegh may have had no illusions about the dark side of black gold when he nationalised Iran’s oil industry in 1951. Iran had been the first Middle Eastern state to permit hydrocarbon extraction, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later known as British Petroleum, had enjoyed the sole concession there since 1913.

“With the oil revenues, we could meet our entire budget and combat poverty, disease, and backwardness among our people,” Mossadegh, Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, explained to the people. “By the elimination of the power of the British company, we would also eliminate corruption and intrigue, by means of which the internal affairs of our country have been influenced.”

Within two years , Mossadegh had been overthrown in a coup organised by the CIA at the request of Britain’s MI6. He was kept under house arrest until his death in 1967.

Posted Date: 
6 November 2016
Link: 

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/gas-oil-and-the-irish-state-revi...

British police spy at Shell to Sea in Mayo – MEP wants Justice Minister to get answers from counterpart

By: 
John Hedges - An Phoblacht


Police spy Mark Kennedy (centre), at the Ballinaboy terminal in County Mayo, was involved in the Shell to Sea protests about the Corrib gas pipeline (Photograph: Indymedia)

GARDA CHIEFS and Scotland Yard commanders allowed British undercover policeman Mark Kennedy to spy on environmental groups in Ireland, including the Shell to Sea campaign in Mayo. Dublin Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan wants Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to get some long-overdue and straight answers from her British counterpart when she meets Home Secretary Amber Rudd this month.

London Metropolitan Police officer Mark Kennedy (pictured) spent seven years, from 2003 to 2010, infiltrating environmental campaign groups engaged in direct protest action against nuclear power stations and other environmentally dangerous projects. Some of those who were charged and brought to trial as a result of these activities gave evidence that the police spy was an agent provocateur, facilitating, organising and instigating unlawful actions, not simply monitoring them.

Posted Date: 
18 October 2016
Link: 

http://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/26426

State's campaign of violence - 10 years old today

10 years ago today, the State launched its campaign of violence against the people protesting against the Bellanaboy refinery. None of the men of violence have ever been prosecuted.

Posted Date: 
3 October 2016
Link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ4_TZQTj3Y

Fionnuala & Donal O'Kelly nominated for Prix Italia

By: 
Donal O Kelly

[Shell to Sea]  Huge congratulations to Donal O Kelly on getting his play Fionnuala getting nominated for Prix Italia for best radio drama.  Also a damning indictment of media in Ireland & RTE that it is listed as a Norwegian radio drama after NRK (Norwegian state broadcaster) commissioned Fionnuala.

 

I'm a bit gobsmacked here, 'cos I'm only after realising now that my radio adaptation of Fionnuala, about the Shell-Statoil Mayo gas fiasco, in Norwegian for NRK, is on the shortlist of 5 radio dramas for the Prix Italia 2016. I got an email about it an all a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't read it properly!! It's on THIS WEEKEND. The other four are from the BBC, France, Romania and Sweden. It's note-worthy that an established media organisation such as the Prix Italia agrees with NRK (Norwegian state broadcaster) that the corruption involving Shell/Statoil, the Irish state and the Gardaí over many years in Erris Co. Mayo matters enough to warrant investigation through radio drama. Huge thanks to NRK for commissioning Fionnuala based on my theatre piece, and wow wahoo that it's on the shortlist for the famous Prix Italia. I just hope it's another small step in lifting the lid off the media obfuscation on what has been done in Erris in the past sixteen years. It's incredible the lengths you have to go to to tell the truth about what's happening in Ireland. It's also encouraging that it's possible to get around obstacles. I take great inspiration from Richard O' Donnell and the way he has made such impact with his tv documentaries The Pipe and Atlantic. Where there's a will there's a way. http://www.prixitalia.rai.it/…/SHORT-LISTED-PROGRAMMES-4e67…

Posted Date: 
1 October 2016
Link: 

http://www.prixitalia.rai.it/dl/siti/html/SHORT-LISTED-PROGRAMMES-4e6700...

Dublin launch of Amanda Slevin's "Gas, Oil and the Irish State"

Following on from a successful Donegal launch...

Amanda Slevin will have the Dublin launch of her new book, Gas, Oil and the Irish State at Hodges Figgis, Dublin on the 22nd September at 6pm.

 

The evening launch will also include speeches from guests Fintan O'Toole (The Irish Times) & Professor Kieran Allen (UCD).

The event promises to offer fascinating insights into how Ireland's gas and oil are really managed.

Date: 
22 September 2016 - 6:00pm
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