The majority of people in Mayo (70 per cent) want the construction of the Corrib gas pipeline to go ahead, according to a disputed opinion poll broadcast last night.
The RedC opinion poll, jointly carried out by the Irish Independent and RTE's Prime Timeprogramme, reveals that just 8 per cent of those polled agree that the Shell to Sea campaign speaks for all of the community.
The Shell to Sea campaign came to national attention last year after five local men, known as the Rossport 5, were jailed for their local opposition to the pipeline running near their homes.
Just over half of those polled (53 per cent) found the anti-Shell protesters an intimidating presence that dissuade local peolpe from disagreeing with them and 52 per cent believed that protestors are being manipulated by people from outside the area who want to cause trouble.
While the majority of respondents want the work on the gas pipeline to go ahead, only 22 per cent believe that Shell itself had behaved "reasonably" throughout the affair.
However the Shell to Sea group dispute the poll's findings.
In a strongly worded statement issued this afternoon, the group said it 'deplored the selective and biased account in today's Irish Independentof the RedC opinion poll.'
They claim that a key poll finding which asked respondents their preferred development model for the Corrib gas project was not published. This question showed that 44 per cent supported an off-shore processing of the gas; 29 per cent supported a processing at Bellanaboy; and 17 per cent wanted the project abandoned.
The group also dispute the Irish Independent's findings that 70 per cent of those polled want the pipeline to go ahead.
"The Independentreports that 70 per cent 'back Corrib'. There is no such figure in the data. 32 per cent want protests at Bellanaboy to cease and 38 per cent want them to continue but without an effort to impede worker access. This finding refers to a mode of protest not to a backing of the project," it said.
The group says the poll raises serious questions of partiality.
"We call on RTE to publish the poll in its entirety and to explain why it jointly conducted a survey with a newspaper with a known bias on the Corrib gas issue,' it said.