Workers Solidarity Movement

Seventy campaigners from all around Ireland this morning blockaded Shell's Aghoos compound in Erris, Co. Mayo. The 7am protest is intended to demonstrate support for the local community whose lives are being increasingly disrupted by Shell's haulage and construction works.  Last week Shell began hauling materials along this road in convoys (usually 4 or 5 large trucks together) in order to setup the Glengad compound. The convoys have so far all been heavily escorted by Gardaí, usually with 2 Garda cars infront and 2 behind along with another Garda van bringing up the rear. The roads are extremely unsuitable for this haulage but Shell and the Gardaí seem intent on trying to use brute force to get Shell's job done.

“Your letters have sparked riots in the maximum security wing of my heart” - Sideshow Bob, the Simpsons!

On 21st April 2010 I was convicted of assaulting a number of Gardaí in relation to Shell to Sea protests and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Remission for good behaviour means that prisoners will have their sentences reduced by a quarter, once you keep your nose clean. I was given credit for 2 weeks time served previously in 2009, before I was bailed out pending my appeal.

So I spent 4 months in jail from April to August in the summer of 2010. 

Art - a Composite of Van Gogh's 'Exercise Yard' & Munch's 'Scream' by Prisoner Mick Connors.

Rossport Solidarity Camp reports that Shell has begun the work on the Landfall Valve Installation at Glengad beach where the off-shore pipe coming from the Corrib gasfield will be connected to the onshore pipe in the tunnel that is being dug under the estuary.

We meant to have this report out a while back, but you know, things just keep happening. It seems we've been pounding the roads of Aghoos and surrounding areas quite a lot at the moment and trying to keep warm by hugging trucks – our, not so new, favourite sport. And there are a lot of trucks to be stopped. They are coming up to every five minutes, so we don't even have to get up that early.

Station’s crime correspondent Paul Reynolds falsely reported that recording of Garda rape conversation was ‘tampered with’

Shell to Sea has revealed that RTÉ is being compelled to broadcast an apology ahead of Wednesday's Six-One and Nine O’Clock TV news programmes, as a result of RTÉ's biased coverage of Shell's attempt to build an experimental gas pipeline and refinery in Erris. In this specific case, RTÉ chose to ignore the facts as explained to them by Shell to Sea around technical issues concerning the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) investigation into the conversation Garda had about threatening to rape two women Shell to Sea campaigners they had arrested in April this year. RTÉ instead reported as fact the false suggestions of Justice Minister Alan Shatter, that part of the recording of the arrest had been deleted. 

Dublin Shell to Sea are helping to organise transport from Dublin for the national day of Solidarity in Mayo Saturday 10th December.  Shell has begun peat removal from the tunnelling compound in Aughoose. They hope to remove up to 175,000 tonnes of peat from the site and replace it with stone from nearby quarries.

Friday 25th November saw over 5 hours of Shell’s peat and stone haulage completely blocked by campaigners in the ongoing struggle against Shell's experimental gas pipeline & refinery. No arrests were made.   Solidarity camp member Grainne Clancy said of the ongoing disruption of Shell's construction, “We are doing all we can with the numbers we have at the moment, but we really need more people up here right now. Sometimes there’s only a couple of us blocking, if we had even a few more people we could be doing a lot more to disrupt Shell’s peat removal.”

The struggle against Shell's experiemental gas pipeline at Rossport has stepped up a gear as Shell have reached the most vunerable state of the tunnelling section of their project.  They have started to remove peat from the site where the tunnel is to start, to suceed in this they will have to have as many as 427 truck movements per day along the narrow rural roads.  There is obviously great potential to disrupt, slow down and halt this work so Dublin Shell to Sea are appealing for anyone who can travel to Mayo to go to the camp now.  Note you don't have to be willing to actually block trucks to be useful as people willing to help prepare meals or do washing up will be helping by freeing up other to carry out other tasks.  The camp understands that not everyone is in a position to risk arrest.

About 40 Shell to Sea campaigners blocked the Aughoose compound this morning (Nov 11) - all Shell employees were prevented from entering compound between 7.30 and 9.30. The road was kept open to local traffic by the campaign. There was no Garda presence. Just after 10 Shell to Sea activists started setting up an Occupy Shell Corrib Camp at the gates of the refinery in a show of solidarity with the global Occupy movements!

The struggle against the Shell experimental raw gas pipeline being imposed on the people of Erris continued this week with Shell to Sea campaigners continuing to blockade peat removal lorries while a court case resuled in the state admitting it failed to correctly bring into law required EU Environmental Directives.  However despite thus the State is still maintaining that the consents given to Shell, including one given by interim Fianna Fáil minister Pat Carey on the day of the last general election, are still valid.