Liam McNally article from Mayo News Jun 29th 2005

mayo | environment | other press Wednesday June 29, 2005 22:32 by Helper

liamymacnally@mayonews.ie
De Facto: The Rossport five face jail

Today (Wed) in the High Court five men from Mayo face possible jail sentences because they are in contempt of court. They broke the law to seek justice. The order of committal is being sought by Shell over the Corrib gas project.

The five men are Rossport landowners and part-time farmers, Willie Corduff, Phillip McGrath and Brendan Philbin; Rossport resident and musician Vincent Mc Grath and Ceathrú Thaidhg resident and retired teacher, Mícheál Ó Seighin.

The five are accused of contempt because they ignored a High Court injunction prohibiting them from interfering with Shell seeking access to lands in Rossport. Shell is also seeking a High Court injunction today preventing people from denying vehicular access to a Shell compound in Rossport. Around mid-day on Tuesday of last week (June 21) a stand-off began (and is continuing) between local drivers and a compound-bound lorry on the

narrow Rossport South road. Residents have concerns over traffic safety and access for emergency vehicles. Gardaí took residents’ names when they refused to move their vehicles.

What will not be told in court

1. TRAFFIC

Mayo County Council has no Traffic Management Plan (TMP) for Rossport, according to Mr John Condon, County Secretary, who confirmed it in writing some months ago. Engineers told residents during a two-hour meeting last week that the council is happy with the TMP in Rossport. A TMP exists for the Bellanboy refinery site eight kilometres away. Rossport is where the Corrib gas pipe comes ashore en route to the refinery. A condition of the Corrib Plan of Development is that a TMP must not only be in place for Rossport, but must be signed off by the council after consultation with local people and with due regard for access for emergency vehicles. It has not happened, yet five Mayo men face possible jail.

2. QRA

The Quantified Risk Assessment, or safety, of the upstream pipeline has been exposed, with a company 50% owned by Shell employed by the government to carry out the safety assessment. Rossport people are also concerned about an earlier independent assessment by a consultant who, some allege, once worked with the company who made the pipeline and with companies who work as partners to Shell. To date, there is NO credible assessment on the safety of this pipeline, yet five people who stopped Shell from progressing work on this pipeline stand before the High Court today on contempt charges. The mind boggles. There seems to be a serious loss of accountability, openness and transparency or else we are living in Bongo Bongo land. No one from the Government, Shell, Environmental Protection Agency, Health and Safety Authority, Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, An Bord Pleanála, Mayo County Council or Belmullet Local Area Councillors can give Rossport people a safety guarantee on the pipeline. What has been produced to date is nothing more than an insult to people’s intelligence. Either Department officials know nothing or else there are grounds for holding an inquiry into why such reports were allowed to be carried out. In the meantime, five Mayo men face possible jail sentences.

3. WASTE PERMITS

Roadbridge, the company working on the Bellanaboy site for Shell, applied to Mayo County Council for waste permits to dispose of the spoil from the refinery site. One of their preferred disposal locations is the former council-owned landfill in Glencastle. The Development Applications Unit of the Department of the Environment wrote to Mayo County Council stating: ‘no decision should be made to grant a waste permit before a full environmental assessment has been carried out’.

The letter states that the disposal of waste/surplus mineral material is an integral part of the Corrib Gas Terminal site development and should have been assessed as such in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the overall Corrib development. Upwards of 71,000 cubic metres of mineral material is to be disposed from the refinery site by Roadbridge (apart from the 450,000 cubic metres of peat). Disposal of up to 5,000 cubic metres requires a council waste permit, larger amounts require an EPA licence. Who is fooling who? So-called wastewater from the refinery site (that leached into a tributary of Carrowmore Lake the area’s water supply source) is also being deposited in the council owned Crossmolina Sewerage Treatment Works. Is there any assessment of risks to water tables? Were people in Crossmolina consulted? Will the court also be told that the council is dumping spoil from its new offices site in Belmullet in the old landfill? An official described it as a remediation exercise on the landfill. It is not waste. No permit is required. It is material used to cover over the landfill. The landfill closed in February 1999!

4. PLANNING PERMISSION:

Shell claims a compound it constructed in Rossport is permitted development under consents granted by former Marine Minister Frank Fahey. Locals lodged a complaint with Mayo County Council in March. The council sought legal opinion this month three months later - on whether planning is required. Similar compounds by Bord Gais Éireann require planning permission. Mayo County Council claim there is no septic tank on site. Local people allege that there is, yet the local people are in court today.

5. SHELL THE MOVIE

Will Shell inform the High Court that its staff follow and film local people in Rossport as they go about their daily business? Will Shell state whether or not the truck in the stand-off, that was delivering to their compound, is properly registered under a haulage licence? And will they explain why they have not brought actions against the women and children who are engaged in similar action as the five men cited in the High Court today?

The Rossport Five are honourable men, full if integrity. Shell, the Government and Mayo County Council also have honourable people working within their ranks. Now is the time for their voices to be heard. Justice and the law demand it.