Over two thousand people took part in a rally in Dublin today in support of the five Co Mayo men who were released from prison yesterday after 94 days in jail over their opposition to the construction of the Shell Corrib pipeline.
Cheered on by supporters at the front gates of the Dáil, the men insisted they would not give up their fight.
All five men, who were freed yesterday after Shell asked the High Court to lift an injunction which led to their detention, spoke briefly.
Addressing his supporters, the 65-year-old Mr Ó Séighin, the oldest of the Rossport Five, said he was proud. "Today I am proud, I am very proud to be Irish, it is great to get pride back again."
Vincent McGrath said he was overwhelmed at the amount of support the men had. "I would like to talk about heroes," he told the crowd. "We are not the heroes, you are.
"The common message through all of this was that we were doing it for you, now you are doing it for us, thank-you very much." Brendan Philbin added: "Today and yesterday was our fight but tomorrow it could be yours, sadly the system has let us down."
Among the supporters were trade unionists including Unison and SIPTU members, Labour Party, Green Party and Sinn Féin supporters and Friends of the Earth. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny turned down an invitation to join the protest march.
His party colleague Bernard Durkan, Mayo TD, took to the stage but was roundly booed and jeered by the crowd.
Mr Durkan claimed his party leader had stood by the Rossport Five over the last three months, but his words were drowned out by the noisy protesters. Organisers of the rally also claimed Dublin City Council had threatened them with prosecution if they placed banners and posters around the city calling for people to support the march.
The men were imprisoned after they refused to guarantee that they would not interfere with construction work on the controversial €700 million project through land near their homes.
The 70km pipeline is due to run from the Corrib gas field in the Atlantic to an onshore refinery near Rossport. They are due to return to the High Court at the end of October to find out if they face any punishment for their contempt of a ruling ordering them to agree not to interfere with work on the project.
The High Court will also examine whether Shell breached an order requiring them to halt work while a review takes place.