The Shell-to-Sea campaign and the Rossport Solidarity Camp group are staging a series of demonstrations around the State today.
One demonstration will take place at the Department of the Marine in Dublin, and protests are also planned for Cork, Kerry and Clare. The protests are aimed at highlighting the reopening of the Rossport solidarity camp next month.
The camp was opened in June of last year to block land in Rossport from any encroachment by Shell. It was also used to picket the Shell compound and as a focus and information point for visitors.
Eamon Ryan
A spokesman for the Rossport Solidarity Campaign, Bob Kavanagh, said they want "to send out a strong message to Shell, Statoil and the State" that the opposition to the Corrib pipeline is not going away but growing stronger.
This afternoon protesters chained bicycles together to blockade the entrance outside Shell's Dublin headquarters in Upper Lesson Street, chalked slogans on the pavement and paraded with posters saying "Shell Hell" and Safety before profits".
One garda was present but there were no disturbances.
Green Party TD Eamon Ryan, who attended today's protest, said Mr Dempsey should consider the situation very carefully. "No one is saying the gas shouldn't come ashore, it's just to make sure it comes ashore in a safe manner. It has to be done in a very open, consultative way with local people, which is not something that has happened in the past," he said.
The protest was also attended by members of Labour Youth, the Socialist Workers Party and Sinn Fein. "It ties in very neatly with Sinn Fein's natural resources policy — that the natural resources of Ireland belong to the people of Ireland and no Government has a right to give them away to multi-national companies," said a Sinn Féin spokesman.
The demonstrations come after mediation talks between the five Mayo men jailed last year over their opposition to the pipeline and the company were suspended.
The five men suspended their participation in mediation talks, chaired by former Ictu secretary-general Peter Cassells, several weeks ago after a series of comments by the Minister for the Marine, Noel Dempsey.
In a statement the men said: "The only hope of resolving the Corrib Gas conflict was through meaningful discussion. . . . The Minister has now removed that possibility from us. We want to know why. The result is that we now understand Shell's position more than the Minister's"
The Shell to Sea group have also called for an international day of action against Shell to be held tomorrow and are planning protests in England, Sweden and The Netherlands.
Additional reporting PA
