VIP's from Pallaskenry & Bantry visit Rossport Solidarity Camp.

mayo | rights, freedoms and repression | feature Tuesday August 15, 2006 21:07 by Niall Harnett - Gluaiseacht.

Willie Corduff, Orla Kaiser, Mary Corduff & Stefan Kaiser

El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido. Be fully assured of the righteousness of the struggle.

Above are two quotes from a book in the Rossport Solidarity Camp library called 'Clandestines -The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile' by Ramor Ryan. Ramor describes a memorial concert for a female student leader shot down during the Venezuelan revolution in the early nineties ... and the chant:
'El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido - A united people can never be conquered.'

Community activists Orla Kaiser from Pallaskenry and Joe Burke & Der Holland from Bantry, who all face threat of jail for ignoring high court injunctions instructing them not to protect the health and safety of their families and communities, visited the solidarity camp in Rossport, met with some of the 'Five' and the local Shell to Sea campaigners and received unequivocal support, to be ‘assured of the righteousness of their struggles’ .

"The level of defiance and optimism is palpable" - says Shane who donated his friend Ramor's book to the camp library. On Saturday night at the camp it was Joe Burke who was telling us not to give up the fight. On Monday evening Orla & Stefan Kaiser left Mayo with the words of Willie Corduff ringing in her ears. "Don't give up, never give up."

Some recent Shell To Sea activity:
The Long Walk from Rossport to Dublin: The walk begins | Almost there | The final leg plus: Shell to Sea activist cuts 6 years of dreads

Over the recent August bank-holiday weekend at a planning & building gathering at Rossport Solidarity Camp, we enjoyed the company of Orla Kaiser from the Bleach Lough Spring Water Retention Group in Pallaskenry, Co Limerick and Joe Burke & Der Holland from the Bantry Concerned Action Group, Bantry, Co. Cork. Joe’s was a planned visit alright and we had arranged for him to give a talk on Saturday night at the camp. Orla's was more of a spontaneous visit and a lovely surprise it was to see her arrive at the camp with her family.

Joe Burke spent most of his time out and about with Micheál Ó Seighin, touring the area and visiting with some of the ‘Five’, which explains the relatively low number of photos, in this report, of Joe’s adventures in Erris. Der Holland, who recently ignored threats of arrest for blocking the ESB in Bantry, and is still a free man!, stayed at the camp and took a tour of the area with me, hence a few more photos. Likewise with Orla and her family who took great encouragement from meeting and talking with some of the ‘Five’ and other local campaigners.

The Bantry Concerned Action Group are strong. “Me and the landowners in Rossport, we’re the same and we’re not going to give in”, says Joe.

Orla Kaiser is strong too, and the braver for facing a somewhat lonelier battle. She, remember, is the only one to face a committal order to jail on the back of her refusal to obey a high court injunction instructing her to allow Limerick County Council connect her community to a polluted water source, the River Deel. Some in her group are pressuring her to obey the injunction for fear the rest of them will be forced to face costs being threatened against them by Limerick County Council.

Sorry lads and lassies but if you let those threats from L.C.C. worry and dissuade you, you will lose your spring water, nothing surer. Is it Spring Water Retention or River Deel Connection you want? Make your choice now. For Orla’s sake and the sake of your community, stand back on the line … or stand back altogether. There’s too much at stake to be sitting on the fence.

The message of encouragement to Orla from Rossport was simple. And the same to anyone unsure in Bantry or Pallaskenry. To win you must stand up to all the bullying and the threats. Have no fear and fight them all the way. The seeking of costs??? … as Vincent McGrath says - “Just let them try!”.

The Rossport lads have millions against them. They’re not worried and neither should you be. Fight on.

Joe Burke & Der Holland from Bantry at the camp.

Der Holland surveys the proposed pipeline route.

Orla Kaiser with brothers Vincent & Philip McGrath of the Rossport Five in front of Brendan Philbin's barn.