Shell to Sea Protest --Green Party Conference

by PRO - Dublin Shell to Sea Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:38 dublins2s at gmail dot com

Dublin Shell to Sea is protesting at the special Green Party convention today (10th October) to highlight the €420,000,000, 000-plus giveaway of Irish oil and gas, which is not on the party's agenda for its negotiations for Government.

GREENS HUNT WITH HOUNDS WHILE PRETENDING TO SAVE HARES

-- €420,000,000, 000 oil and gas giveaway ignored in party's agenda for government --

Dublin Shell to Sea is protesting at the special Green Party convention today (10th October) to highlight the €420,000,000, 000-plus giveaway of Irish oil and gas, which is not on the party's agenda for its negotiations for Government.

"The savings to be made by the spending cuts now being proposed would only be a tiny fraction of the money the exchequer would earn from Ireland's natural resources if the Government redrafted Ireland's oil and gas licensing laws so that the State took a share in those resources," Dublin Shell to Sea spokesperson Gary Ronaghan said.

"The Greens are concentrating on trying to convince their partners in government to reverse education cuts, reduce the number of TDs and to ban hare coursing," he said.

“The Greens are running with the hounds, while pretending to speak up for the hares. It was fine for them to support Shell to Sea when they were not in power, but now they are too busy being partners in a Government which plainly puts big business first. So you can forget about issues like the environment or natural resources or the stinking deal which allows multinational oil companies to take our natural resources and give us nothing in return.”

Back in November 2006, then Green Party leader Trevor Sargent blamed the Corrib Gas controversy on "the giveaway deals for exploration licenses" which he said were "comparable, in historic terms, with the Act of Union of 1800, in the way a dodgy deal can be made to look legitimate."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Great Gas and Oil Giveaway

The terms of the Irish State’s deal with the Shell-led consortium are amongst the world’s least advantageous. According to a 2002 study, only Cameroon looks for a lower take than Ireland from oil or gas finds, and the state take in all but a handful of countries is twice what the government of Ireland is demanding for the Corrib gas. If the deal is allowed to continue as envisaged, the Irish exchequer will receive no royalties, no state stakehold and only 25% corporate tax, the lowest rate in the industry worldwide. All exploration and development costs can currently be written off against tax at 100%. Several countries have substantially re-negotiated oil and gas deals with multinationals, and the framework exists in the Corrib gas licensing terms for Ireland to do the same. Ireland recieves no security of supply from its oil and gas finds under current licensing terms, and will have to bid on the international market at full prices for any oil and gas reserves found.

Greens Hunt with the Hounds While Pretending to Save the Hares

News Release
Issued by Dublin Shell to Sea
Saturday, 10 October, 2009
For immediate release

by Joe Tue Oct 13, 2009 09:13

The Green Party has become a lightweight group awaiting execution.
I hope an alternative 'Green' Party will emerge after we get the chance to put the present lot out of our misery.