Shell Corrib gas consultants say they have received no order from Minister for the Environment John Gormley to restore a special area of conservation in north Mayo, contrary to the Minister's public statement on the issue.
RPS consultants said yesterday they were ready and willing to undertake the environmental restoration work, following unauthorised drilling on a special area of conservation at Glengad - landfall for the Corrib gas pipeline.
However, the relevant direction has not yet been received in writing by the consultants.
A spokesman for Mr Gormley said that there were no issues, and the order would be dispatched once procedures had been followed.
Mr Gormley had said last week he was ordering the company to restore the area to its "original condition" under Article 19 of the habitats regulations, and failure to comply was a criminal offence.
"The actions of the Shell contractors in entering a [ special area of conservation] and carrying out works without authorisation are a matter of serious concern to me," Mr Gormley had said.
"I find it unacceptable that this has occurred at a time when my department has been making special efforts to keep in communication with Shell during the course of this project to date."
In a related development, poets Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and musicians Dónal Lunny and Andy Irvine are among a group of artists who have issued messages of support this week for Goldman Environmental award winner Willie Corduff of north Mayo.
"It's not the most distressful country after all when five 'green' men stand their own ground. Congratulations," Seamus Heaney, Nobel laureate, said in his statement, issued to mark a celebratory function for Mr Corduff in Belmullet, Co Mayo, last night.
"From my heart I send you my warmest congratulations on this night of celebration and laughter and defiance in the face of injustice," Paul Durcan said.
Mr Corduff, farmer and father of six, received the prestigious environmental award in the US earlier this year on behalf of the Rossport Five.
The five - Mr Corduff, Philip and Vincent McGrath, Brendan Philbin and Micheál Ó Seighín - spent 94 days in prison in 2005 over their opposition to the onshore gas pipeline.