Fitzgerald should seek answers on undercover British police in Ireland

By: 
Shell to Sea

Open Letter to the Minister of Justice, Francis Fitzgerald

Shell to Sea are calling for the Minister of Justice, Francis Fitzgerald to seek that the inquiry into the behaviour of undercover British police (entitled the Pitchford Inquiry) be extended to include the activities of undercover police in Ireland.


Mark Kennedy (middle) undercover at Bellanaboy

The Pitchford Inquiry is so far only investigating undercover policing activities in England and Wales, however the German Government, the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland's Justice Minister, Claire Sugden have all called for the remit of the inquiry to be widen to include the activities of the undercover British police in their jurisdictions.

It is known that undercover British police officer, Mark Kennedy operated in Ireland intermittently for a number of years including monitoring Shell to Sea in March 2006. It is suspected that after leaving the British police Mark Kennedy provided information on protesters to energy companies.

Shell to Sea is calling on Minister Fitzgerald to add her name to this list of other Governments and call for the Pitchford Inquiry to extend the inquiry into activities of undercover British officers in Ireland.

Posted Date: 
16 December 2016

Ireland in top six for helping companies avoid taxes according to Oxfam report

By: 
Ed Carthy - Irish Examiner

Ireland has been ranked sixth in a new Oxfam developed league table of the world’s worst corporate tax havens.

Oxfam branded the Republic the sixth-worst country for helping corporations to avoid paying billions of euros in tax bills each year.

The development agency said profit-shifting, sweetheart deals and a lack of effective tax rules influenced the damning score.

Jim Clarken, CEO of the charity’s Irish division, said the country is part of a toxic global system that services the very wealthiest while ordinary people pay the price and lose out on essential public services.

“Around the world, we are known as a country of good fun, bad weather and awful tax policies that allow some of the world’s richest companies to avoid paying their fair share,” he said. “This is no badge of honour.”

Posted Date: 
12 December 2016
Link: 

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ireland-in-top-six-for-helping-com...

Filmmaker Risteard Ó Domhnaill: 'It's time for us to take ownership of decision-making regarding our natural resources'

By: 
Risteard Ó Domhnaill - TheJournal.ie

How many of us really know what is going on in our coastal communities, asks director of The Pipe, Risteard Ó Domhnaill.

WE VISIT THEM on our summer holidays. We like to see boats coming and going from piers and to eat seafood in local restaurants. We imagine what a great life the locals must have. But the reality for coastal communities is as far from the imagined maritime idyll as Newfoundland is from Kilmore Quay.

Posted Date: 
9 December 2016
Link: 

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/do-we-value-our-oceans-in-ireland-312129...

Sales of €1.2m a day now flowing through Corrib gas pipeline

THE Corrib Partners are generating sales of more than €1.2m a day from the gas flowing from the Corrib gas field off the Co Mayo coast.

Production started on the field at the end of last year and for the first nine months of this year the Corrib Partners, including Shell Ireland, recorded estimated revenues of $360m (€335m) from the production of gas from the field.

This follows a new report by one of the Corrib partners, Canadian-based Vermilion showing that it has generated sales of $66.42m (€61.5m) for the first nine months of production.

Posted Date: 
17 November 2016
Link: 

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/sales-of-12m-a-day-now-flowing-...

Ten years since Garda baton charge on peaceful protestors

Today (10th November) marks the 10th anniversary of the baton charge by Gardaí against peaceful protestors opposed to the Shell/Corrib Gas Project in Erris, north Mayo. [1]

The 10th of November 2006 was chosen by the Shell to Sea campaign as a suitable day of action as it marked the anniversary of the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni activists who opposed Shell in Nigeria.

In 2007, following the baton charge and other incidents in which people were injured, GSOC sought to do a "policies and practices" investigation into the policing of Shell/Corrib protests. However, the then Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan denied GSOC permission to carry out this investigation. As the 2010 Frontline report stated this created "the impression that the State does not want the Garda Síochána held properly to account over the policing of the Corrib dispute". [2]

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