Rossport Five’s position vindicated

April 18, 2007 at 5:14 pm | Posted in Statements | Leave a comment

Today’s judgement of the High Court that Shell’s application to drop their application for a permanent injunction be granted subject to costs on this issue being awarded to the local landowners and that CAOs against the landowners involved be dropped is a welcome and significant development in the Corrib gas conflict. This decision amounts to a complete vindication of the stance taken by the Rossport Five in 2005. The pipeline that the men objected to cannot now be continued with. The injunction under which the men were imprisoned has now been withdrawn by Shell. Legal questions to do with the pipeline and wider project remain before the High Court. It must now be clear to all fair minded observers that a great wrong has been done by Shell to the men, their families and the community of North Mayo. The Rossport Five should never have been imprisoned. However, these actions by Shell are symptomatic of the disordered nature of the Corrib gas project which, unfortunately, is still proceeding. That project needs to be discontinued and a full, independent review conducted to determine the optimum development model for Corrib based on community consent. Shell’s refusal to do this merely underlines their continued indifference to the community affected by their proposed project. 

Advertisement