The Rossport Five: Between the devil and the deep blue sea

The train journey from Dublin to Ballina takes almost four hours. From there, it is another hour or so by car to Rossport.
It’s a long trek, made worthwhile by the stunning coastline. Recently, though, this remote corner of Mayo has attracted attention for reasons that have little to do with sightseeing.
Rossport is the scene of an on-going battle between a local community and the petroleum giant Shell, their partners Statoil and the Government.
Shell is in the process of constructing a gas pipeline from the Corrib field, which lies several miles off-shore. Locals claim the gas line is unsafe and have vigorously opposed the development.
In June, Shell obtained a court injunction to prevent protesters disrupting the project. Five local men refused to abide by the order and were jailed for contempt.
The men – Philip McGrath, Brendan Philbin, Vincent McGrath, Willie Corduff and Micheál Ó Seighin – became known as The Rossport Five.
Last month, Shell agreed to lift the injunction and, unbowed, the five were released.
Recently, I went to Rossport to speak to them about their experiences.
They explained that their lives had been turned upside down, their trust in the Government destroyed.
“I felt angry for being put in prison without doing anything,” says Willie Corduff. “We didn’t break the law. It was hard in there, leaving a home, wife and family behind when they know you had done nothing. God, what do you have to do to protect yourself now? Shell or the government don’t care about people.”
The five spend 94 days in Cloverhill prison. Prior to being jailed, they had believed Shell was making empty threats and would not allow the protesters go to prison.
“When Shell got the injunction, we thought they would use it as a scare,” Philbin, explains. “We thought that there would be some talks and they would have the decency to keep their word. But instead, their men landed down with gardai and attempted to go on my land on several occasions. But I wasn’t allowing them without their documentation in order.”
Philbin claims Shell and the Government have ignored the dangers which the pipeline poses to Rossport.
“They hadn’t done a credible safety and risk assessment on the pipeline,” he says. “The pipe is supposed to go through the field opposite my house. I asked the Department of Marine for examples of this type of development in other places. I’ve been waiting two years for an answer.”
The protesters say the project will enrich Shell but bring no economic benefit to Ireland. In addition, building an on-shore refinery could potentially devastate an environmentally sensitive area.
What concerns the community most, however, is the possibility that the pipeline may explode. It will carry untreated gas at very high pressures. Recently, there was a landslide close to where Shell plans to build the pipeline.'
“If the pipe was already laid with gas running through it then we wouldn’t be here now to tell the tale,” says Philbin.
At a public hearing, a retired US Navy officer with expertise in explosives said that, were the conduit to rupture, the ensuing explosion would kill anyone within a mile radius. Half a dozen houses stand within the blast zone.
The stand-off in Rossport raises wider questions about the distribution of wealth in modern Ireland, say the men. In prison, they saw, first hand, the tragic underbelly of the Celtic Tiger. Surrounding them were those who have not prospered in the new Ireland, those who have slipped between the cracks and been forgotten.
“Their average age was 20,”says Philbin of their fellow prisoners. “It was very sad.”
Society, he believes, had let those people down. “The court fines them and then puts them in prison, but where is the sense in that? Where is the justice? Would they not be better off putting them in a hostel to help them rehabilitate, rather than hauling them through prison. Prison is not an answer to their problems.”
It opened Philbin’s eyes: “To see all the young fellas, their brains melted by drugs, just tossed out of the way...”.
The men did not suffer excessively behind bars. The staff and other inmates treated them respectfully. But they emerged from prison deeply changed. Their faith in politicians, for one thing, has vanished.
“I always voted Fine Gael,” McGrath says, “but not any more. Enda Kenny [the party’s leader] left us down and prison has changed me”. The Government’s refusal to step in and support the protesters shows that the political establishment has sold its souls to big business, says Corduff
“We have stood up for the country,” he says. “This disgrace had to be highlighted. It was being pushed under the carpet because the Government didn’t want it coming out.”
The Government said the men had broken they law. In truth, says Corduff, they were defending their community.
“We were put into prison for protecting ourselves, “ he says. “They said we broke the law. We broke an injunction that shouldn’t have been there. We never did any harm. We were just trying to protect our families. Rather than listen to us they put us into prison for 94 days.”
If the Government was unwilling to become involved, the people of Ireland felt differently. Across the country, thousands rallied in support of the Rossport Five.
“The people on the ground realised a wrong had been done,” says Corduff. “We got support from all over the world so we felt we were doing something right.”
The protesters say the pipeline should never have gone ahead because, they claim, the planning process was not followed properly. Mayo County Council, they say, refused to seriously listen to their concerns about possible safety risks.
The five also question the licensing system under which Shell are free to exploit the potentially hugely lucrative gas reserves off the coast. The rights to the Corrib field were signed away to what would eventually become the Shell/Statoil consortium by Ray Burke, a government minister later found guilty of corruption.
Some commentators suggest the region may contain vast reserves of gas. Shell, say the protesters, have continuously played down such a passibility. Yet why have the invested millions in bringing the gas to shore?
One reason could be that, having disastrously overestimated the worth of its oil and gas stockpile, Shell is greedy for new reserves. Amid worsening tensions in the Middle East, it is also eager to secure fresh supply lines, away from zones of political instability.
The company has as much as admitted this. Ian McCredie, head of Global Security Services at Shell recently warned that: “International terrorism, corruption and local activism are threatening our operations in many countries”.
If the Corrib field is to be developed then it should be for the benefit of the country, says Corduff. Under the current deal, Shell can exploit the reserves for its exclusive profit.
“We have let all of this go for nothing but to turn around and then destroy this beautiful area,” he says. “Why wouldn’t the government take it on themselves? Why not have it for our own country? Why give the benefit to Shell/Statoil/Norway.”
Instead, says Michael O Sheighin, the Government is handing over national assets to private ventures. The parallels with the 19th century, when landlords carved up the country are obvious, he says.
“There hasn’t been such a change in the assets of this country since the plantation and the landlords,” he says. “It’s a very dangerous time with Harney and Ahern imitating Thatcher and Reagan.”
The solution, he argues, is a new political paradigm. The establishment has proved incapable of standing up to grasping corporations. A grass-roots political movement must take its place.
“We have allowed our democracy to be side lined by our subservience to parties of the past,” he says. “We need more activism to create a real democracy.”
The Government has ordered Shell to dismantle three kilometres of the Corrib pipeline, constructed without the necessary consent. The company has yet to do so. The fight for Rossport, it is clear, has only begun.
As I step onto the train to leave this stunning part of Ireland, I realise that yes, greed does exist in our country.
It is the greed of multinationals, seeking to steal the natural resources of this land and dispense with the basic rights of decent people, such as the Rossport Five.
I depart with a strong feeling that justice will be done, not just for the men of Rossport, who had 94 days stolen from them, but for the people of Ireland, the young men condemned to Cloverhill and the old and sick lying on trolleys in hospitals.