Rossport is a small town on the northwest coast of Ireland in Co Mayo, facing the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by the Irish countryside. It’s an idyllic place – at least it was until 2004, when Shell, the multinational oil and gas company, made plans to build a gas pipeline in the area.
Rossport is a small town on the northwest coast of Ireland in Co Mayo, facing the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by the Irish countryside. It’s an idyllic place – at least it was until 2004, when Shell, the multinational oil and gas company, made plans to build a gas pipeline in the area.
The so-called ‘Corrib Gas Project’ divided the local community between those who believed the area would be positively affected in economic terms, and those who protested against what they saw as the inevitable negative impact on the local environment, not to mention health and safety.
In 2005, three local residents were compelled to grant access to their land to allow for the development of the Corrib project. The three refused, and were assisted by two other locals in blocking Shell workers. All five were subsequently found in contempt of court and sent to jail, eventually released after 94 days.
Eight years on from the imprisonment of the ‘Rossport Five’, as they came to be known, the campaign against the construction of the onshore gas pipeline – and against Shell’s activities around the world – is still going strong.
It’s also eight years on from the first Good Friday walk organised by the Rossport activists as an annual occasion to remember the case of the Ogoni Nine. In 1995, nine Nigerian activists who protested against Shell, including writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed by hanging by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.
Since Shell began oil production in the Niger Delta region in 1958, it has been alleged that the company has worked closely with the Nigerian government to repress local opposition. Thanks to the financial assistance provided by the multinational oil company, military forces didn’t hesitate to violently sedate any protests in the region.
In light of the Niger Delta and the Rossport situation, Shell’s reputation is far from being immaculate. But let’s use the right words here: in my view these are actually human rights violations.
Noemi Lavorato is an Italian based in Mayo and a former intern at Metro Éireann.
