Top Oil: the company which re-fuels the U.S. war machine in Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday March 11, 2003 22:03 by Sylvia Pankhurst - Anarchist Federation

Details of the business empire of the family which owns Top Aviation Fules - the company which re-fuels the U.S. military at Shannon.

The company which re-fuels the American military at Shannon is called Top Aviation Fuels. This is a subsidiary of Top Oil, a sub-section of Tedcastle Holdings, part of the business empire of the Reihill family.

Top Oil also trade in domestic heating oil, have filling stations, and, jointly with Londis, operate a franchise convenience store chain called Londis Topshop with about 120 shops on both forecourts and highstreets (some of which are company owned, some of which are franchise).

The other wing of the empire is called the Reihill Venture Capital Group, and consists of two investment companies: Trinity Venture Capital and Hibernia Capital Partners Limited.

Collectively the Reihill companies were listed by Business Plus in August 2001 as the fifth wealthiest Irish based business.

Principal addresses associated with this group of companies:

Ted Castle Holdings HQ, Dunleary House, Dun Laoghaire, Co.Dublin.

HIBERNIA CAPITAL PARTNERS
Ground Floor, Beech House, Beech Hill Office Campus, Clonskeagh, Dublin 6, Ireland

Top Lubricants, Dublin Industrial Estate, Glasnevin, Dublin 1

TOP Dublin, Promenade Rd, Dublin 3

Top Cork, Riverview Business Park, Mahon Ind Est, Blackrock, Co.Cork

Top (Western Region), The Docks, Galway.

Top Kilkenny, Hebron Industrial Estate, Kilkenny.

Top Waterford, Canada Street, Waterford.

Further Connections, or get to know your ruling class:

Investors in, and members of the advisory council of, Hibernia include (amongst others): Mr. John B.McGuckian, Chairman of Ulster Television and former Chairman of the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland, as well as being a director of AIB plc, Unidare plc, Irish Continental Group plc; Mr. Denis Murphy, Chairman of St. Patrick’s Woollen Mills and Swansea Cork Ferries; and Tony Smurfit, (CEO of Smurfit Europe), plus John Bolger formerly of Aer Rianta International, British American Tobacco, Forzani's Locker Room, Simmons Drilling and KPMG (the later being the company that advises the government on privatisation).

Corporate investors in Hibernia include: Bank of Ireland Asset Management, Standard Life (Ireland), Norwich Union (Ireland), Friends First (Ireland), J P Morgan (Chase), and the beautifully named Graphite Capital (Foreign & Colonial), amongst others.

More friends of the Reihill family include former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes and Senate leader and former Fine Gael TD Mary O’Rourke, both of whom addressed the Londis Topshop Retailer Conference, which took place on Monday 7th October 2002 in Radisson Hotel, Galway.

Gillian Bowler, a Director of Tedcastle Holdings is also a director of the VHI, Chairman of Budget Travel Ltd, President of the Institute of Directors and a Director of Irish Life & Permanent plc. As well as being formerly Chairman of The Irish Museum of Modern Art and formerly a member of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (and current member of the forum on broadcasting). If that wasn’t enough she also holds a directorship with Grafton plc. This company owns innumerable plumbers and builders suppliers and the D-I-Y chain Woodies.

Interesting to note that the Reihill’s business partners include: (after the most basic examination) the boss of UTV, a boss of radio and television in the south, and a former boss of KPMG – who have done work for RTE and the Leinster Leader newspaper group in the recent past. Not to mention Londis – who you quite possibly buy your newspapers from.

In the days after war starts there will be a reaction, thousands will be on the streets. There already is a genuinely national anti-war movement, the likes of which quite possibly has never been seen before in this country, on this issue.

As it grows, it can light candles, it can wave placards, or it can take action. Imagine the impact if that reaction spent its energies targeting the many interests of the Reihill family and their associates.

If we want to build a movement which empowers people through direct action and has a direct impact on the war machine, what better target?.

As it stands only a tiny segment of the anti-war movement are ever going to take “autonomous actions” at Shannon.

A larger, but nonetheless small number, will participate in the mass direct actions at Shannon.

That is not to say that such actions are not necessary, nor is it to say that potentially more and more people will become involved in them.

However to reach out to include in direct action many people new to activism; to develop the skills and confidence *ourselves* for further actions at Shannon; what better way than to make local actions, picketing, occupations, boycott posters, whatever, against Top Oil (for starters). Furthermore the local level anti-war reaction will take place, but with what shape, with what form?

The movement grows in Tullamore, Manorhamilton, Newry, the question is – will it be a movement of protest or of resistance?