The five men jailed for their protests against the proposed pipeline from the Corrib gas field in Co Mayo are to remain in jail having failed to purge their contempt of court, a High Court hearing was told this morning.
The five men, Micheál Ó Seighín, Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, Philip McGrath and Vincent McGrath, were jailed for contempt of a court order banning them from blocking Shell access to their land.
Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan said that if the men wanted to make an application to the court they were free to do so, as long as they purged their contempt.
Mr Justice Finnegan added he would get an explanation from Shell in due course but he would not get one "at the behest of people in contempt of court".
He ordered that defence and counterclaim arguments to be delivered by August 10th and he gave 14 days for any reply in defence of counterclaim.
Mr Justice Finnegan also told the opposing parties to communicate with each other and not to "thrash it out in court".
The men are in prison on foot of an order of April 4th last which required them and others not to obstruct or interfering with the entry by the Shell company on to lands for the purposes of "preparation, construction and installation" of the pipleine and ancillary works associated with "such preparation, construction and installation."
They have now been in Cloverhill Prison for 25 days