Shell granted permission to discontinue its legal proceedings against Rossport landowners.

mayo | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday September 28, 2006 20:43

by TD - Shell to Sea

Treated as mushrooms; kept in the dark and covered in horse shit.

Today, in the High Court, before Justice Ms Mary Laffoy, Shell EP Ireland made its contemptible attempt to drop its legal action against the beleaguered Rossport landowners. Last year it was the big stick of State and Big Oil intimidation that sought to cow the legitimate concerns of the Erris community in the form of Cloverhill gaol, today, it was the rotting carrot, the Trojan Horse, that was the cynical ploy of

dropping the charges in order not to produce the State’s petroleum lease by the Minister for the Marine for the Corrib gas project. Production of the documents was ordered by judge Laffoy on July 31st, three days later, Shell announced its intention of dropping its legal action against the landowners – not a case of altruism as one might imagine, more the case, of treating the people of Erris and concerned citizens further afield as mushrooms; by keeping us in the dark and covering us with horse shit.

This was today’s main bone of contention, Shell sought to muddy and manipulate the situation further by conflating its unwillingness to release the documentation with the dropping of the charges and its application for legal costs which would be contingent on the landowners not opposing their depredations. This cynical ploy, unfortunately, was successful in regards to one Mayo "environmentalist" and partner.

The proceedings were adjourned to an undetermined date; probably in late October, once the contending parties liase with other and thresh it out with the court clerk.