Monday morning at Bellanaboy.

by Eve and Niall Mon Oct 16, 2006 18:12

*

setting up for the press conference

Joe Higgins

TDs complained about Police cameras

Jerry Cowley

Pat O'Donnell and P.J. Moran

by Eve and Niall Mon Oct 16, 2006 18:16

*

"chief"

Ciaran Murphy; offered 15,000 by Shell

Joe argues with the cops

by Pax Mon Oct 16, 2006 20:38

Solidarity.

You are having a hard and difficult fight. I hope the world is watching what is being done by
the Dublin Government to a community in crisis.

Noel Dempsey was making statements today about no negotiations on the issue.

Noel Dempsey should resign.

There must be an enormous paper trail of corruption, I firmly believe that you communities
will be vindicated for your stance. I am not familiar with the whole issue except the imprisonment
of the Rossport five, the appointment of Cassells who was electioneering agent to Dempsey and the
health and safety issues.

Take care of yourselves and solidarity.

by Doctor Finlay - Flatten Mayo Mon Oct 16, 2006 21:48

Any news on the lady whose head struck the road last week ? It looked particularly nasty.

Has anything ben done about that lady's injuries in the way of a complaint ?

by Seamus Bond - Secret Mon Oct 16, 2006 21:54

What exactly is the basis on which Messrs Higgins and Gregory are complaining about the Gardai filming them at an open public meeting ?

The constitutional rights to frredom of assembly and freedom of speech were not impinged upon in any way by the gardai !

What is the difference between being filmed by the gardai (which they want to object to) and being filmed by the media which they seem to welcome warmly ?

Funny old country.

I'll give this post about 10 seconds before it gets pulled or someone objects to it.........

by Sarah Mon Oct 16, 2006 22:16

I fully agree. Plenty of posts expressing an opinion other than 'Shell to Sea' are being blocked. This site calls itself independent, but it is no more independent than a toddler. And as for showing support for something when you only know one side of the story Pax, I suggest you read up on the facts and then make a more informed statement. You may be surprised by the findings. I don't believe the probably apathetic majority is being swayed by these protests and some of the ramblings caught on tape have been embarressing - is that why the gardai are not allowed to record anything? No time to prepare and someone might blurt something silly out? And as for chanting the rosary - that's no more than using religion as an object of conflict which is, without a doubt in my mind, pure dead wrong.

by m.m.mccarron - o.s.i Mon Oct 16, 2006 22:45

Mayo is the place of Knock where thousands travel from everywhere and the Rosary is the chosen prayer. It is the prayer of the great Mayo pilgrimages every year to Croagh Patrick in Mayo. There is a beautiful Mary shrine recently built at the crossroads as one leaves Bangor Erris for Bellanaboy. There is another large Mary shrine as one enters Pollatomais. It was built in 2003. Both Mary shrines were built by local families to honour their dead sons. Spiritual expression comes easy so in times of trouble the Mother of God is called upon. Ther is no irony in this recourse. The threat of a pipeline and a refinery is a time of trouble.

by JM Mon Oct 16, 2006 23:48 Rossport

Well done Sister Majella on reminding people of the sincerity of the prayers at Bellanaboy.

On the "censorship" issue above, I would like to see the article re-instated (having been unable to read it) unless there are severe objections, in which case they should be clearly outlined.

All sides of every argument/debate should have a chance in these pages for indymedia to live up to its name, and then let the clarity of facts speak for themselves.

by Ken - Supporter Tue Oct 17, 2006 00:04

First of all, I applaud all the good people out there who have take the time to help the people of Rossport in their struggle against what seems now to be caused by the Irish Government. I would also like to applaud Indymedia.ie for all the stories and pictures that they DO print, because without their help, others around the world, yes thats right, around the world, would not know of the problems that the good people of Rossport have to put up with, just to protect 'their lives and the lives of their families and friends'. I also applaud the other reporters at the Ballinaboy site namely Niall,Eve and Sean that I know of, who have given so much of their time to this unnessecery protest. I say this unnessecery protest because the good people of Rossport should not be put in this position by their own Government. I still can not get my head around how the LARGE garda force were mustered up so fast, when there is so much REAL crime going on in the rest of the country. Surely someone knows who is responsible for organising over 180 gaurds in full uniform and the busses to carry them in the dead of night to corral the people of Rosport away from protecting themselves. I think that the gaurds with the cameras really want to join the protesters, but because they are being forced to do their job, they can not. If I am wrong about this, then why are they using these video cameras and who authorised them to use the video cameras and most importantly who is PAYEing for these video cameras. Are most of the people in this country afraid to stand up for what is right.I continue to support the good people of Rossport down in Limerick. Keep up the goog fight.

by ; ) Tue Oct 17, 2006 00:36

editors, (seemingly anyone can be one) often move or remove messages bases on the editorial guidelines, but also so as to "not clog up the wire with s2s".
all posts that have been removed or edited are still on line but are hidden!
ie not on the wire but in the archive where you can also see who edited the post....

chech out
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-ireland-newswire/

for more ; )

by Sniffer. Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:06

So, let's look at this/
Yesterday Shell took a hit when the news reported on a guy who Shell allegedly tried to bribe.
Today, Dempsey's office suddenly tells the news that they have been targetted with anonymous death threats...

Great PR war eh? To get around the pictures of brute cops knocking over women saying the rosary... compare them to the IRA and accuse them of making death threats... brilliant!
I wonder what they'll come up with next?

Willie Corduff Ate My Hamster - Dempsey (Indo)

CIA exposes Maura Harrington links to Al Qaeda {Sunday World}

by Mossie Tue Oct 17, 2006 13:29

Doctor - the lady in question is Maura Harrington and she was discharged from hospital by lunchtime on Friday. maura refused to get in the ambulance that first arrived for her and insisted on dragging one from the HSE as she couold not "in principle" get into the first ambulance as it was being paid for by Shell. Maura got a knock to her head but was lucid enough to go on Joe Duffy that afternoon and give a coup de grace performance that I am sure made the Shell executive chuckle with glee. I bet they pray she goes on radio every day - she really is their secret weapon.

by Mick Butler - CFSD Tue Oct 17, 2006 14:34

When I referred to "censorship" above I meant the national broadcaster "Newstalk". The person who wrote "blocked posts" inferred that there might be an oversupply of s2s stories on the site. I don't know about that, I do think s2s is the main issue on the ground right now, and a central platform in the campaign will be the media war. N talk are atrocious, deliberately biased towards the Shell position, no surprise there one might say, but it is critical to keep exposing them , they have nationwide coverage and they are radically abusing their position. I do believe such exposure is as much or more important than the reports of actions of activists around the country, who are already converted to the cause, the wider public is there to be won over and Denis O'Brien's N talk station is working hard to suppress the negative for Shell and eliminate the positive for Shell to Sea.

I hope to see the original piece reinstated,

Solidarity M B.

by DM - Labour Youth Tue Oct 17, 2006 16:06

Are there any particular reasons?

Solidarity

by krossie - dublin shell 2 sea Tue Oct 17, 2006 17:10

Have no direct contact with protestors but I'm guessing just exhaustion!!!!

How ever Friday should be big - details of buses etc are here in the events section

kp

by anthony blair Tue Oct 17, 2006 18:27

Just listened to Maura on the Joe Duffy archives. It's brilliant. Nobody who listened to that could continue to support your campaign.

It's even better than you said. Not only did she refuse to get in a Shell paid for ambulance, she said that she would prefer to die rather than get in anything that was owned by Shell.

When asked would she get in an ambulance that was running on Shell petrol she said that it is not usual to ask what petrol is running in an ambulance, so the question would not arise! Nice dodge!

Another guy then came on and said that even though he had 4 young children he would also die rather than get in a Shell ambulance.

At this point as you can imagine, Joe and the Irish nation were torn between incredulity and hilarity.

Maura also said that she believed Shell were secretly controlling the Irish Goverment, and implied that this was not a democratic country.

When asked why the people of Dublin were not objecting to the 100 tankers of Shell jet fuel which are carried from Dublin port to Dublin airport every day, she said they should be. Great, shut down Dublin airport forever. Nice one! Very constructive.

In my most charitable way of expressing this, the genuine Mayo protesters, (not the trendy hard lefty users), come across as being very scared, but also irrational and not really having a leg to stand on.

This explains why your support is going down by the day, and deservedly so.

As a postscript, the most scary thing is that she is a primary school principal. Does anybody worry about what she is telling the children?

by Mossie Tue Oct 17, 2006 18:37

Good post Anthony - i agree that maura's piece on Liveline is possibly the funniest thing I ever heard. I played it twice and also sent the link to a few people as it is hilarious.

On a slightly more serious note - I agree that the protestors appear to have lost the plot and their lack of a coherent message is damaging them greatly. Shell appears to have out manouvered them by positioning themselves as prepared to compromise and willing to talk. This statement would have appeared impossible 6 months ago. The protestors have just continuously shot themselves in the foot.

by Listener Tue Oct 17, 2006 19:19

It's probably not very smart to go on Liveline when you are suffering from concussion alright.

But it's really stupid to judge an entire campaign on one radio interview.

by supp Tue Oct 17, 2006 19:41

If you all listened to it so carefully you'll have noticed, apart from her being very on the ball and impressive, when the caller and then Joe D brought up the phrase martyr, Maura dismissed it and then joe started asking her whether she would die rather then have the terminal built where it is etc, she paused she said it was just a concussion (and was not in the realm of martyrdom), joe asked again and 'Maura would you die rather then has this thing built'? she was reluctant to say that she wasn't fully committed to the campaign yet not in a hurry to say she'd die for it, she eventually did say so. Then another protestor came on and Joe used that to hit him with... neither really said it only replied to the bagdering questions, just like it was the reporter that brought up Adams and Paisely when interviewing Dempsey yesterday rather then Dempsey himself.

by John Charles Tue Oct 17, 2006 20:16

Or masters.....

a lot of Irish schools were founded on the John Charles Mc Quaid principles of revolutionary catholicism.

yes- I less worried about skanger Duffy's interview with a concussed woman that the man
who founded these schools in order to ward of the creeping 'liberalism' evident in co-ed high
schools.

Did you know that if one is nominated to a multi-cultural Irish school that you have to take
an oath or promise to uphold the catholic ethos of said school.

Oaths are also very popular. Martin Mc Gunniess would not take one to 'the rule of law'
in N.I today.

As to the campaign.

These people are fighting for justice and you are hiding behind the prettiness of language.
Duffy hypnotised 2000 catholic women to sing outside the Dail- I am only glad that
She came out of the interview untainted by the bullshit regularly broadcast on our
'National station' wherin such luminaries as Pat Kenny make millions for talking outa their
arse.

Mc Quiad was an endearing character-he had De Valera's ear, the closest Ireland ever
came to a dictatorship until now, where the corps are drafting our laws and their
puppets are lining the pockets of the elite.

Ps- who the fuck would listen to Liveline?

by kino Tue Oct 17, 2006 21:03

Once again, please do listen to the interview if you haven't.

Mossie and anthony are entitled to their gullibility. - ah yes, what a lovely thought, "Joe and the Irish nation" we are one forever, like two mirrors facing each other.

Mossie is so creative he or she cleverly repeats the already most-repeated line of the interview "lost the plot"

And Anthony, he's simply using the tactic of attempting to "imply the obvious" by stating what is no more than his personal understanding of what maura said, with a little creative ornamentation to help push his side of the argument. Repeat it enough it'll become the truth. Anthony, you watch a lot of TV, right? sky, or cnn, fox news maybe?

by supporter Tue Oct 17, 2006 21:29

youre doing a great job and we're behind you all the way.

by shell to sea supporter Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:41

Threatening phonecalls ro Minister Dempsey's personal office as described in the many media reports today are indeed a puzzle. That they came close to the end of his interview with RTE demands some thought on who would have at hand all the relevant numbers. And be immediately available to make calls. Most people are at work and few would risk using office phones to make such a call. It also means that people were listening to the radio. Having a phone number at hand, listening to the radio at a specific time, having access to a phone is a remarkable set of coincidences. That such a security scare would be immediately floated to the media is quite extraordinary in view of it being reported to the gardai. As soon as progress is made on the discovery of the source of the phonecalls the public must be informed and legal action taken. Tracing a phone call makes this very easy.

by Con carroll Wed Oct 18, 2006 14:11

an alien from Mars, would know more about the politics of the west of Ireland
than Andy Pyle of shell oil company would would

by Peace People Wed Oct 18, 2006 16:38

The Peace People wish to express their solidarity with the Shell to Sea campaign.

We admire the courage of all those who are involved in this non-violent campaign. We are concerned about a number of issues.

1.Garda violence in restricting the movement of demonstrators
2.Media misinformation about IRA involvement
3.Suggestions by Shell PR and some commentators that a sit-in is, per se, not a peaceful, recognised form of civil disobedience
4.the PR spin about a phantom new pipeline route.

We call on the Irish and Norwegian governments, the Media and Garda authorities to stop colluding with the multinationals, Shell and Statoil, in attempting to force through this highly flawed gas project. We call on them instead to listen to the democratic voice of Irish people and their concerns about the negative impact this project, in its present form, will have on our economy, culture and environment.

Kevin Cassidy, Chair
Justin Morahan, Vice-Chair
on behalf of Peace People Executive
Fredheim
224 Lisburn Road. Belfast, BT9 6GE.

by Matt Wed Oct 18, 2006 18:52

I fully support the Rossport S2S campaign, but it is simply irresponsible to allow atrocious, nauseating tripe like this out over the airwaves to a large potential support base at this critical juncture.

Call a spade a spade and the Gardai the corrupt pigs they truely are.

Harrington comes across like some kind of born-again blueshirt, for jesus' sake.

Only people who can reliably hand scum like Joe Duffy his arsehole on a plate should be media spokespeople.

by Blue David Wed Oct 18, 2006 21:34

I thought that was obvious. Look at the way they are above the law. No insurance on their own vehicles, tax expired - and whats worse is that they can get away with this because they are not in any way diciplined, just because they hold the badge of honour. The most stupid police force there is in Europe- look at the findings of the Morris Tribunal, the recent Garda malpractice in Co Galway with that shooting of a man who wielded a gun but didnt even fire it at them. That tell you something?

by errisechos Thu Oct 19, 2006 03:25

Hey Matt, it's clowns like you whom feeding the PR negativty the campaign is suffering at the moment. Maura Harrington's motives are pure, honest and have indisputable integrity. Unlike your poisonous vitreol. Please stay away from this campaign. You are only doing Shell's dirty work by discrediting the cause with your rubbish

by cool j Thu Oct 19, 2006 03:48

I agree that Maura going on radio suffering from concussion probably wasn't the wisest thing to do under the circummstances. It does highlight however her bravery and determination in the face of garda physical abuse and intimidation. The latest example of the latter occured over the weekend with paddy-wagons patrolling up and down outside her house!!

As for Joe Duffy, the only thing I'll say about that big-business puppet is that he's certainly left his student days far behind him and has become firmly embedded into the estaiblishment. Live-line has become merely a vehical for his own ultra capitalist right-wing view of the world!!

by Con Carroll - Class-war Thu Oct 19, 2006 16:01

keep to what this protest is about
dont let our detractors get to the better of us

the garda action in Mayo have showing themselves what they are a police state force

keep the protests peaceful dignified political manner

I would love to be there tomorrow but I cant
so solidarity to all involved in the protest keep it up.

by Con Carroll - class-war Thu Oct 19, 2006 17:26

quarter master of intelligence
Paul Williamsof Sunday world should be known as