Shell to Sea Meets Ministers Ryan and Ó Cuív – Nothing New From Government

mayo | environment | news report

Monday September 29, 2008 21:16

by FSB! - Rossport Solidarity Camp - Shell to Sea

No solution or new thinking on the Corrib fiasco from the pro-Shell Government emerges from cynical PR exercise

A number of groups from Erris and Co. Mayo went to meet with two government ministers, Éamon Ryan (Natural Resources) and Éamon Ó Cuív (Gaeltacht & Community Affairs) in Ballina today. These groups included Shell to Sea, Pobal Chill Chomáin, and Pobal le Chéile; a number of Erris fishermen accompanied by the parish priest of Kilcommon also met the ministers despite not having been invited. The ministers also met with the Pro- Gas Mayo Group and the Council for the West, organisations that could be candidly described as ‘astroturf’ (i.e. fake grassroots) and stalking horses for Shell. Following these encounters, the ministers met with the TDs for Mayo and county councillors from Erris, to round off what was a cynical PR exercise by an alarmed clueless government.

The Shell to Sea delegation before meeting the ministers

In the wake of recent events in Erris, Co. Mayo, when Shell’s pipe laying ship the Solitaire was made to leave Broadhaven Bay amid controversy, alleged structural damage and determined community protests, the Irish government hurriedly issued invites to community groups from the Erris area to meet with Ministers Éamon Ryan and Éamon Ó Cuív, who would be accompanied by their departmental secretaries, and Ciarán Ó hÓbáin who is the Principal Officer of the Petroleum Affairs Division of the Dept. of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
After having met Pobal Chill Chomáin, Pobal le Chéile and the Pro-Gas Mayo Group/Council for the West, the ministers met with the Shell to Sea delegation just after 1p.m, over an hour later than specified on the invitation. Ó Cuív and Ryan then attempted to delay the meeting even further again by using the RTÉ crew’s timetable worries as an excuse. The Shell to Sea delegation stood their ground forcefully, and got the ministers to start the meeting immediately.
It was clear from the off that the government had nothing new to offer in terms of a solution to the Corrib Gas fiasco or indeed any new thinking at all, when Ryan began the talking by describing the encounter as a ‘listening exercise’. Ryan and Ó Cuív indeed had to listen, as the delegation described to him again in detail the brutalisation of a community at the hands of a corrupt alliance of Shell and the state, the destruction of one of the few environments in Ireland worthy of being called ‘unspoilt’, and the corruption endemic in Irish public life that made (and makes) the Great Gas Robbery possible.
Strangely, it was the latter charge of endemic corruption that drew a response from Ó Cuív, who was indignant that his profession and his colleagues could be so impugned. The delegation pointed out to him that not only was one of his ‘colleagues’ convicted and jailed for such corruption (the ever-relevant Ray Burke), that Mr. Ryan beside him had also been in the impugners’ chorus before the Greena Fáil shotgun marriage last June. In this reporter’s opinion, some of Mr. Ó Cuív’s contributions bordered on the bizarre, referring to half-forgotten meetings in Belmullet in 2002 and that ‘in my enquiries in the 1990s on this issue non-Fianna Fáil sources assured me that there was nothing wrong with the offshore licensing terms’. These ‘non-FF sources’ turned out on further probing to be senior civil servants from the Petroleum Affairs Division of Mr. Ryan’s department, of whom most would have long career histories with major oil companies. It goes to show the calibre and disinterestedness of the advice the government receives on these matters.
Both ministers were selectively deaf when it came to the policing of the Corrib Gas dispute. They attempted to fob the delegation off with claims of departmental non-responsibility, but people were having none of it and reminded the ministers and their secretaries that the presence of three navy ships and the Garda Emergency Response Unit are not mere details to be taken up with somebody else, but an integral part of the state/Shell approach in forcing through the Corrib Gas project on an unconsenting community. Mr. Ryan had the effrontery to opine that the navy ships were there to provide 'safety' , as 'those big boats are very dangerous to go near' (not nearly as dangerous as having a high-pressure raw gas pipe go through your neighbourhood Éamon!) They were also reminded that they will have to deal with this facet of the controversy eventually, either on the floor of Dáil Éireann or in the court of public opinion.
Not only were the ministers bereft of any new ideas, it was also intimated to Shell to Sea that Shell would get permission from the Parks and Wildlife Service to continue works at the Glengad landfall site into October and beyond, in open breach of the conditions attached to the planning permission granted originally. While it is always good to speak truth to power whenever possible, today’s exercise left a bad aftertaste, because there is no real listening going on at government level concerning the Corrib Gas project, only the re-iteration of ‘it’s going ahead anyway’ and the sheer cynicism of he who supported Shell to Sea in the past saying he’s doing all in his power to ensure that this odious project is ‘safe, legal, and environmentally correct’.

Now, if you wonder who the Pro-Gas Mayo group are, then go to - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Gas_Mayo_Group

And, if you enjoy your humour black and ironic, try this! - http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=ie-en&FC2=/i....html

P.S. photo credits for 2005 E Ryan shots to W. Hederman

Maura Harrington doing a piece to camera