Rossport Five escape more time in prison

The five men gaoled last year for contempt of court have received a final judgement from the president of the High Court

Micheál Ó Seighin, Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, and Philip and Vincent McGrath were brought before the courts again today to receive the final judgement from Justice Joseph Finnegan, the President of the High Court.

The five were imprisoned last year for three months, for refusing to obey his order to cease protesting against the scheme by Shell and Statoil to install a dangerous, experimental, raw-gas pipeline through their village.

Justice Finnegan noted that he had the right to fine or even gaol the five men, since they had never obeyed his order. The reason they had been released from prison last September was only because Shell had dropped the injunction against them.

However he announced that he had decided that the men should face no further punitive action. Therefore he is not sending them back to prison, or fining them. He decided though, that they are liable to pay Shell's legal costs as well as their own, a bill which will run to hundreds of thousands of euro.

The men stressed that their imprisonment, and the trauma caused to their families and communities, was only one chapter in the struggle to free Mayo of the blight of Shell's scheme to exploit the Corrib gas find by processing the raw fuel at a giant refinery , rather than off-shore, which is normal practice. The campaign against the pipeline is set to continue, even stepping upm a gear now.

There was a large turn out of supporters at the court, including many who had travelled from Mayo. There were also representatives of Sinn Féin and The Green Party as well as Independent TD Gerry Cowley.

Many protesters, including Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry Murray, then travelled to the Statoil building in the IFSC, where they attempted to deliver a section of the controversial pipeline back to the company.