“Why don’t you just fuck off and mind your own business, we don’t care about you"

mayo | environment | news report Tuesday August 16, 2005 22:02 by Terry via Micheal

- Shell/Roadbridge Engineer to Rossport resident and relative of prisoner.

The reality of Shell’s promised “P.R. Blitz” – attempts to provoke trouble on the picket lines.

At 6.40 a.m. today one Rossport resident was at the Ballinaboy picket and got word that a small convoy of Limerick reg. jeeps had been seen in the area. Limerick reg. jeeps in Erris usually being those belonging to Roadbridge, one of Shell’s contractors. On driving back to the Rossport compound he found five jeeps pulled up outside it and seven of the higher echelon staff inside the compound. This included Kevin, one of Shell/Roadbridge’s top engineers, and Paul Gallagher, another one of Shell’s top boys, as well as an Italian, presumably from Sicim.

By 7.10 a.m there was ten picketers at the gate.
At 7.25 a.m. the standard Garda shift change took place (there are now two garda at each development site continually).
By 8.00 a.m. 20 picketers had arrived, a mix of campers and local residents, just before 8.00 a.m. 3 blue collar workers arrived, probably machine drivers, but didn’t attempt to enter the compound.
Between 8.00 a.m. and 8.45 a.m. the engineering staff and white collars were walking out of the compound and speaking to the 3 ordinary workers outside.
At 8.25 a.m. the picketers held the main gate and made it that any one going in or out would go through the adjoining public right of way – a small pedestrian gate, not passable to vehicles.
A Garda inspector who was at this stage present gave out about this to the demonstrators.

By 8.45 a.m. the majority of the white collar staff were now outside the compound, while one was leaving he shoved into a protestor, and when said protestor remonstrated with him and took his photo he said “I suppose that camera is stolen”. This protestor is a relative of some of the prisoners.
Attempts to file a complaint with the Garda, both for the shove and the verbal abuse met with an initial lack of interest on the part of the guardians of the peace (CL 132 and CL 277 and the inspector).

This particular member of Roadbridge/Shell staff then went to his Nissan Patrol 4 by 4, 01 – LM 579, complete with ‘Hey MTV Pimp My Ride’ sticker, and phoned into his superiors saying loud enough for all to hear: “There is nothing here but a shower of wankers”.
Shortly after this Kevin, a Roadbride/Shell engineer says to one local resident (and relative of a prisoner): “Why don’t you just fuck off and mind your own business, we don’t care about you, we don’t care what you want”

As one camper put it there was no attempt to take anything into the compound or to take anything out, or do any other kind of work, a fact which makes it obvious that this was an unsuccessful attempt at provocation.

Ear to the Ground.

In another incident on the picket lines, last Friday at 10.10 a.m., a conversation between Mick Coffey, another contractor, and a security guard was over heard.
The substance of this conversation was that Coffey hopes that the demonstrators will allow them in to dismantle the section of pipeline they have illegally constructed and that he feels they have to get the Rossport Five out of prison as he thinks the pickets will end then,. He was also talking about the possibility of re-routing the pipeline up the estuary – but says that would take two years in the planning process (this option was considered before and rejection due to environmental regulations). This conversation also revealed that the illegally constructed section of pipeline is actually sinking into the bog (most likely as the foundations were not built deep enough).