Crowley ejected from Dail during row over Rossport Five

Politicians gather outside the Dail during today's rally in support of the Rossport 5. Photo: Barry Malone

Politicians gather outside the Dail during today's rally in support of the Rossport 5. Photo: Barry Malone

Independent TD Jerry Crowley was ejected from the first Dail session of the new term this afternoon after protesting angrily during a debate on the Rossport Five.

Mr Crowley began to shout at the Taoiseach as he attempted to answer questions from Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and refused to take his seat despite repeated warnings from Ceann Comhairle Dr Rory O'Hanlon.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny called on the Taoiseach to appoint a mediator to breach the impasse in the dispute over the Corrib Gas Pipeline.

Mr Ahern said that the Government had examined a number of ways to solve the dispute but that it appeared that they would not engage in negotiations until they were released from prison.

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Mr Higgins told ireland.comthat the Taoiseach bore ultimate responsibility for the situation.

"I want him to take that responsibility and see that the men are released immediately. He will not be allowed to wash his hands of this over the next two and a half months if they remain in jail," he added.

Supporters of the five jailed men marched on Leinster House this afternoon as TDs arrived for the beginning of the new Dail session.

The men - four landowners and a protester known as the Rossport 5 - have spent 92 days in prison for refusing to purge their contempt of court over a refusal to comply with a High Court injunction obtained by Shell.

Shell obtained the injunction after protesters blocked work on the pipeline in Co Mayo. Supporters of the men, brothers Philip and Vincent McGrath, Micheál Ó Seighín, Willie Corduff and Brendan Philbin, have called on Shell E&P to seek to have the injunction lifted.

The Shell-to-Sea campaign is calling on the company to locate offshore. It plans to place pickets outside Shell and Statoil filling stations around Dublin.

A letter of support for the men is to appear in newspapers on Friday, signed by Robert Ballagh, Christy Moore, Frances Black, Eamon Dunphy, Mary Lou McDonald, Finian McGrath, Mary White, Tommy Broughan and other prominent politicians, writers and artists.

Labour, the Green Party and Sinn Féin have supported the men's plight. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and TD Martin Ferris visited Mr Ó Seighin in Cloverhill prison at 11am today.