Five jailed for contempt over Mayo pipeline

Five Mayo men, including a retired schoolteacher, were jailed indefinitely by the High Court in Dublin yesterday after they refused to stop breaching a court order restraining the obstruction of work for construction of the Corrib gas pipeline through some of their lands at Rossport.

A number of other locals are also facing imprisonment when proceedings alleging breach of the same order, granted on April 4th last, come before the court tomorrow.

One of those, Ms Bríd McGarry, told the court yesterday that she believed she had no alternative but to go to prison as the pipeline placed the community at "unprecedented risk".

Shell E&P Ireland, developer of the gas field, sought orders of committal against the five men yesterday saying, through its counsel, Patrick Hanratty SC, it did so "with considerable regret". Mr Hanratty also sought and secured his costs of the application.

The five jailed, who represented themselves in court, are James P Philbin, Philip McGrath, Willie Corduff, Vincent McGrath and Micheál Ó Seighin. They will remain in prison until they purge their contempt. Earlier, the five explained to Mr Justice John McMenamin why they felt unable to give undertakings not to engage in further breaches of the court order. Philip McGrath said he was just seeking to protect his lands. The pipeline was just 70 metres from his house and he was "living in fear" for his safety.

If the pipe was laid, he would have to leave the area and the house he had built "just for Shell".

The pipeline had a bar pressure of 345 and such a pipeline had never before been constructed in a residential area. "I don't want to be a guinea pig for Shell."

Willie Corduff, a father of six, said he was afraid to leave his home, was stressed, was not sleeping at night and was begging the court for "justice" which he had not got. He said Shell was using the courts "to bully us".

"I am prepared to go to prison to get my rights, like McBrearty."

James Philbin said the court had only heard from Shell a "one-sided version" of events and "a lot of untruths". He had reason to believe a quantifiable risk assessment on the pipeline had not been independently carried out, but despite this a multinational oil company had been given the right to build the pipeline in front of his and other houses for their own gain. He believed there was no valid ministerial consent for this development. He also said a road servicing the development was inadequate and denied he had blocked that road. Ireland would not gain one cent from this development and Shell was seeking to "make criminals out of us", he said. It was "a poor state of affairs if the judiciary was working hand in hand to facilitate a private company over the rights of Irish men and women". Shell had caused unquantifiable disruption to the local community in the past five years.

Vincent McGrath said his house was only 20 metres from this unprecedented pipeline. His main concern was that no State body was taking responsibility for his safety and he was left with Shell, a private company.

Micheál Ó Seighin said what Shell was proposing was technically and materially wrong, in breach of EU regulations and of Shell's normal standards regarding pipelines. It was also not under the control of the energy regulator or the health and safety authority.

In applying for the committal order, Mr Hanratty said he was doing so reluctantly and because his client had no alternative.

He said failure to adhere to construction deadlines could expose his client to losses of €25,000.

He also said the Compulsory Acquisition Orders relating to the lands through which it was planned to construct the pipeline were made under various ministerial consents.