Galway Shell to Sea: Shell! Stop Toying With the life of Maura Harrington

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday September 18, 2008 17:32 by TD - Shell to Sea

Overtaken by serendipity?

Now that today's expressions of solidarity for Maura in Galway have been serendiptously overtaken by Shell's announcement that "the Solitaire will leave Killybegs today for a UK Port where deep water berthing facilities are available," at the risk of wrongly second guessing her, a sweet and honourable ending to her hunger strike is, surely, in the offing.?

At 12.30PM this afternoon, Shell to Sea along with "Concerned friends of Maura" handed in a written request to the secretary of Honorary Norwegian Consul in Galway, Ray Rooney, urging the Norwegian government to intervene on humanitarian grounds to ameliorate the situation.

To the Norwegian Government.
As the main shareholder of Statoil, we urge you to instruct Statoil to exert corporate pressure on its Corrib Consortium partners, Marathon, and in particular, Shell to issue an urgent definitive statement as has been asked for by prominent politicians and well known film director Ken Loach as to the intentions of the pipe-laying vessel Solitaire owned by the Allseas company. Amnesty International has also commented on the repression of citizens by States that collude in the interests of oil companies above the welfare of their citizens. Maura Harrington, who up to very recently was the local primary school headmistress is now going into her tenth day of a hunger strike. She intends to continue with her hunger strike until the owner of the Solitaire expresses the intention to leave Irish territorial waters. The current feeling is that due to damage to the ship's pipe laying stinger, it will be more than likely that the Solitaire will not be returning to Broadhaven Bay this year. if this is the case, then in order to minimize any further health deterioration to Maura, it is vital that the ship proceeds to leave Irish waters. We know that the Norwegians are an honourable and fair people and have been deeply dismayed by what has gone on, in their name, in north Mayo. Please move urgently to resolve this standoff before it is too late.
Concerned friends of Maura

After this was effected, Shell to Sea joined others in Shop Street to highlight the plight of this brave , unbending woman; now in the throes of her 10th day onhunger strike.