22 TDs gather at gates of Dail to demand reversal of Corrib pipeline consents

national | miscellaneous | feature

Monday March 28, 2011 12:55

by WH

Our Oil & Gas is worth €540 billion.
Our govt is giving it away to corporations.

Twenty-two TDs gathered at the gates of Leinster House in a sunny Dublin today to back Dublin Shell to Sea’s call for the new Government to overturn the consents granted by former minister Pat Carey to Shell E&P Ireland on the day of the recent general election.

All of Sinn Féin’s 14 TDs took part, along with four of the United Left Alliance (the two Socialist Party and two People Before Profit TDs) and four independents. The Independents were Finian McGrath, Catherine Murphy, Maureen O'Sullivan and Thomas Pringle. Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan could not attend but sent a message of support.

The consents relate to the onshore section of the Corrib gas pipeline and were issued despite High Court proceedings being initiated by An Taisce and Erris residents against last January's An Bord Pleanála decision to grant permission for the onshore section of the Corrib gas pipeline.

Speaking at the press conference, Dublin Shell to Sea spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins criticised Pat Carey’s decision: “These consents were issued in a highly dubious manner on the day of the recent general election. Pat Carey, who was only in the Department a matter of weeks, had no mandate to issue the consents to Shell. He was a cabinet minister in a government with minority support and it is scandalous that such a major decision relating to the state’s natural resources should be taken in this way.”

She called on the new Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources, Labour’s Pat Rabbitte (a Mayo man) to overturn the consents issued by Pat Carey and to renegotiate the licencing terms offered to oil corporations, “Shell to Sea is calling on the new Minister Pat Rabbitte to overturn the consents issued for the Corrib gas pipeline. This remains an unsafe project and will accrue no benefit to the people of Ireland.”

“The state’s bizarre licencing terms ensures that Shell will pay little or no tax on the estimated €10 billion worth of gas in the Corrib field. The new Minister has an opportunity to lift the burden of cuts being heaped on working people by renegotiating the disastrous licencing terms and using the state’s vast reserves of oil and gas to invest in public services.”