THE NAVAL Service has deployed a ship in Broadhaven Bay as part of the State's security provision for the Corrib gas project.
The patrol ship, LE Orla was stationed in the bay yesterday evening, as Shell E&P Ireland prepares to start offshore pipelaying with the 300m (984ft) ship, Solitaire.
It is the first time that the Naval Service has become directly involved in providing security on the project, which has already cost the State €11 million in Garda overtime.
A large Garda and Shell security presence was also monitoring access to the sea from Glengad beach yesterday.
A week ago, eight protesters in wet suits were arrested on public order grounds off Glengad beach, site of the landfall for the pipeline, and were later released without charge.
The Solitaire was due to start working in early August, but a combination of factors, including swell in some of the Atlantic's most turbulent waters, is said to have delayed the vessel's deployment from Killybegs, Co Donegal.
A Naval Service spokesman said it was there at the request of the Garda as an aid to civil power, and to ensure public safety.
As well as facing environmental protests, Shell is in dispute with a north Mayo crab fisherman and his son who are also refusing to remove their fishing gear in Broadhaven Bay. While Shell E&P Ireland has a foreshore licence, Pat O'Donnell and his son, Jonathan, have fishing licences in the area.
The O'Donnells are not party to an agreement brokered between Shell and the Erris Inshore Fishermen's Association. The father and son, who run a crab business, fear that the gas refinery's outfall pipe will have a negative impact on the marine environment in Broadhaven Bay.
David Kirwan of the new Fishermen's Representative Group expressed support for the O'Donnells' situation last night. "Fishermen trying to make a living are being hounded out of it in north Mayo," Mr Kirwan said.
