éirígí slam Devins over Corrib gas controversy
sligo |
anti-capitalism |
press release 
Thursday March 18, 2010 23:05
by Dungloe and proud - Too independent for any
éirígí attack Fianna Fáil TD in relation to the giveaway of the states natural resources and the Deputies financial interest in Shell
Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has accused local Fianna Fáil Deputy Jimmy Devins of hypocrisy following recent comments in which he called for the extension of the Corrib Gas Field to Sligo and the north-west.
Casey said: “According to Devins, ways of extending the Corrib gas field for the benefit of the north-west need to be explored. Yet this a deputy who has steadfastly supported the shameful give-away of these valuable natural resources worth hundreds of billions of euro to create profits for the shareholders of multi-national companies such as Shell.”
He added: “Contrary to the suggestion by Devins that extending the Corrib gas to Sligo and the north-west would somehow benefit the region, the reality is that under the current circumstances where Shell own and control the gas, the only people who will benefit from this will be the shareholders in Shell.”
“While he has been extremely reluctant to publicly say so, amongst those set to benefit financially will be Deputy Devins himself. According to the Leinster house Register of Interests, Devins is a shareholder with Standard Life, a company which owns over 46 million shares in Shell and is one of their biggest shareholders.”
“If Devins was genuine in seeking the people of the north-west and the people of this island in general to benefit from the Corrib gas field, then the only way to do that is to support ending Shell's involvement in exploiting our natural resources and their proposed pipeline through north Mayo. If he has the interests of the north-west at heart then he will support the nationalisation of the Corrib gas field and other similar fields, to support the refining of the gas at sea and and to use the vast revenue obtained to create effective and efficient public services, to eradicate poverty and to increase living standards for workers.”
Casey concluded: “If he fails to support such demands, then his comments about this gas being of “benefit” to the north west will be seen for the gross hypocrisy that it is. The only ones to benefit if the state and Shell get their way will be himself and the other shareholders in Shell or companies that hold shares in Shell at the expense of the people of this island.”
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Nothing surprises me with FF politicians. This mans wife is the judge who jailed Maura Harrington. Does this mean she had a financial incentive in convicting and jailing shell to sea demonstrators?
At an early stage in the criminalisation of Shell to Sea activists Judge Devins was asked to recuse herself from hearing such cases on the grounds of 'perception of bias'. This was argued successfully in the neighbouring juristiction when one of the Law Lords had to recuse himself from the Pinochet extradiction hearing because the wife of the Law Lord in question had once worked as a secretary for Amnesty International.
Judge Devins refused and in a manner that led one visiting barrister to feel that a written complaint to the President of the District Court was warranted.
The behaviour of Judge Devins in subsequent Shell to Sea cases led to Judicial Review procedures being taken against her which were upheld and other successful applications to the High Court in relation to her remand of some activists to jail.
There has since been a typical 'Irish solution' to this mess - Devins still sits at the regular Court on the second Wednesday of each month; Shell to Sea cases are now heard at Special Courts, usually lasting a week at a time for which special roving District Court judges are brought in (like bussed-in cops and Shell mercenary security) to spread the judicial participation in the political criminalisation of Shell to Sea.
Surely now that Devins has been shown to have a financial interest in this project, those convicted by Devins wife have a case for appealing their convictions based on a conflict of interest
Devins has totally worn out credability but that won't matter to Fianna Fail they have just appointed another bunch of their cronies to be circuit court judges so their crimes will continue.
The opposition parties know full well what is going on but choose to stay silent just as they did with the complaints of S2S that they were denying the rights of Irish people to international law by not ratifying the Aarhus agreement.
An accurate archive needs to be kept of all politicians, Gardai, and judges that have commited crimes against the Irish people and some day we can hold them accountable.
Devins office in Sligo should be site of protests against Shell
This is the calibre of people running this country. Its all about feathering their own nests
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