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Quotes

Martin Ferris

"I worked on an oil rig when there was a find on the Porcupine Bank. There was a three-day burn-off, during which time it was top secret and no one was allowed near it. No Government representative was on board. While the late George Colley came out afterwards, no one had any idea as to what was there. What some of us were told by people who were prepared to share this information was that this intelligence went straight to the company and nowhere else."

— Martin Ferris - Sinn Féin TD - at the recent Dáil Committe Debate on Offshore Exploration Licences

Fr. Michael Nallen

There was no logic in the decision to prevent us observing the committee meeting in its discussion on natural resources. All we came to do was observe the workings of the committee and the people who were turned away were not participating in any protest. ... This is not credible democracy”

— Fr. Michael Nallen - on being stopped from entering the Dáil

Ecocide

"Ecocide: The extensive damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished." 

The crime of ecocide - environmental destruction - which is being considered by the UN from submission by British lawyer Polly Higgins.

— Polly higgins

Damian Carrington blog The Guardian

Terence Conway

"Let's be clear about this: Shell's private security - IRMS - have absolutely no right to use any force on campaigners who are peacefully protesting on a public road. The fact that Gardaí would watch IRMS assault campaigners for nearly an hour on a public road is another clear example of the total suspension of the rule of law in relation to protesting against Shell."

— Terence Conway - Shell to Sea spokesperson

John Cuffe

"The learned judge's words should be heeded because we are heading for anarchy. However, much of this anarchy rests with a State that pays little or no regard for the "common" people. A stroke of a pen and the pension rights of thousands of public servant retirees are changed for the worst.
On the other hand, the same law protects the gilded pensions of the elite that have broken the back of the nation. The law protects the rights of developers, bankers and politicians who betrayed a nation."

— John Cuffe - Letter to the Irish Indepedent about the jailing of Teresa Treacy

Garda RL83

"You are entitled to be a citizen but not here"

— Garda RL83 sums up the State attitudes to protesting against Shell

“They might think that in Leitrim we are poor, and maybe we are – but we are not cheap and we will not be bought off,”

Leitrim Councillor Martin Kenny (SF) .

He believed gas firms had met quarry owners and local trucking firms regarding potential for business

Paul Murphy

“I have witnessed and experienced the Garda violence that is used against protestors on a daily basis. I participated in a peaceful sit-down protest in front of a truck used by Shell that had been mounted by a protester. In order to remove our peaceful sit-down protest, the Gardaí used a level of violence deliberately designed to inflict pain on the protestors.  They repeatedly called for each other to target protesters’ pressure points. What this meant was made clear when my left ear was twisted repeatedly to the point of excruciating pain and I was repeatedly poked beneath the ribs in a sensitive area causing significant pain. I was also hit on the head and was violently dragged and pulled in such a manner as to rip my jumper.”
 

— Paul Murphy - Socialist Party MEP on his recent visit to Mayo

Fintan O'Toole

"The other [folly] is the idiocy of simply giving away all of this potentially vast wealth for next to nothing. And that’s what we’re currently doing. There’s no public stake in any field, no royalty to be paid on the gas and oil, and no control over the sale of the resources when they do flow. All we get is a tax on profits of between 25 and 40 per cent – after all the costs of prospecting and development have been written off. A US government study in 2007 found these to be the most generous terms in the world, except for Cameroon."

— Fintan O'Toole - Irish Times -16th August 2011

Gerry Murray

“There are also concerns about the actions being carried out by I-RMS, Shell's private security company.  These allegations need to be investigated for it is not tolerable for multinationals and their hired goons to engage in bullyboy tactics against ordinary people engaged in legitimate protest."

— Sinn Féin Cllr Gerry Murray