Tag Archives: Shell To Sea

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From top: Protest in Corrib, 2006; Mark Kennedy

The Pitchford Inquiry in the UK is investigating all undercover police operations conducted by English and Welsh police forces in England and Wales since 1968.

Shell to Sea, the County Mayo-based group that fought the building of a natural gas pipeline through the village of Kilcommon, Erris, are calling for the Minister of Justice, Francis Fitzgerald to seek that the inquiry include the activities of undercover police in Ireland.

The German Government, the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister,  have all called for the remit of the inquiry to be widen to include the activities of the undercover British police in their jurisdictions.

In an open letter Minister Fitzgerald, Shell To Sea writes:

It is known that undercover British police officer, Mark Kennedy operated in Ireland intermittently for a number of years including monitoring Shell to Sea in March 2006. It is suspected that after leaving the British police Mark Kennedy provided information on protesters to energy companies.

Shell to Sea is calling on Minister Fitzgerald to add her name to this list of other Governments and call for the Pitchford Inquiry to extend the inquiry into activities of undercover British officers in Ireland.

Shell to Sea have also made a submission to the Pitchford Inquiry and British Home Secretary seeking the terms of the inquiry be extended to include Ireland.

The seriousness of these undercover operations were emphasised by President Michael D Higgins speaking in 2011 regarding Mark Kennedy’s activities stating “It is of grave concern. This type of activity undermines respect for the law and it is very sinister in that it can damage good causes.”

Meanwhile..

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Mark Kennedy (centre) at a Shell To Sea gathering In Bellnaboy, Co Mayo in 2006

Shell to Sea submtted the following questions to Minister Fitzgerald.

How many and which undercover British police officers targeted protesters opposing the Corrib gas project?

Who authorised Mark Kennedy’s (& any other undercover police officers) trips to Ireland?

What State bodies knew of the presence Mark Kennedy and other undercover police officers during their deployment here?

Who chose the Irish campaign groups, activists and protests to be targeted?

Who received any intelligence or evidence that was gathered by Mark Kennedy in relation to his monitoring of the Corrib Gas protesters

Did Shell or any other companies or people connected with the Corrib Gas Project receive any of the intelligence or evidence that was gathered by Mark Kennedy?

Did other foreign police or security services seek permission for or deploy undercover agents to monitor the activities of Corrib Gas protestors

Was any of the intelligence or evidence that was gathered by Mark Kennedy (or any other undercover police officers) used in the prosecutions of protesters opposed to Corrib Gas project?

Who paid for Mark Kennedy’s undercover work in Ireland? Did any of the money come from the Irish Exchequer?

What lawful authority did Mark Kennedy have to undertake his undercover operations in Ireland?

What details were the Gardaí and other State bodies given on Mark Kennedy’s undercover operations prior to him being deployed in Ireland?

What, if any “rules of engagement” with campaigners were given to Mark Kennedy during his time as an undercover agent in Ireland?

What oversight did the Gardaí or other State bodies have on Mark Kennedy during his time in Ireland?

Shell to Sea

corrib

“Our involvement with the pair of whistleblowers [Maurice McCabe and John Wilson] in this case actually started as a result of the protests here [against] Corrib. It was the cases of the rape tape allegations and that being brought to the public eye with the protestors with Corrib.

There was a Vincent Browne programme [TV3, April 2011]  that dealt with that issue. I was on the panel and I made some points . . . particularly about the fact that things hadn’t changed much since Donegal and the Morris [tribunal] . . . that there was a systemic problem of accountability with An Garda Síochána…

…The first whistleblower [Maurice McCabe] guard happened to be watching the TV that night said, that’s somebody who I think I could get on with, and he contacted me after that and arranged to come up to Dublin . . .

…He said he would stay in contact with us, and he did that . . . and in the summer of 2012, when we were in the news a bit and a lot of the media being incredibly negative about us, the second whistleblowing guard [John Wilson]  said, ‘God, these people seem to have a bit of backbone, I think we’ll get in touch with them again’. And this time they were ready to go public.”

Clare Daly at Who Polices the Police? conference, Inver (near Rossport) in north Mayo on November 23, 2013. The women who came forward with the tape were accused by then Minister for Justice of exploiting the words said by the guards and tampering with the editing of the  tape.

Gardaí, GSOC, ‘whistleblower reprisal’, Corrib Gas and the ‘rape tape’ (Irish Oil And Gas, February, 2014)

Previously: Corrib Garda: “Give Me Your Name And Address Or I’ll Rape You”

poster-for-site

Free tomorrow?

An exhibition of photography and oral testimony of the local response to the Corrib gas dispute at Comhlamh, 12 Parliament Street, Dublin at 7pm tomorrow night.

Reddy writes:

Given how the communities all over the country are facing a Rossport-isation of policing with the water protests, this is one to highlight and attend. . Eye opening.

Rossport Residents Reflect On Resistance To The Corrib Project (Comlámh)

Rossport Residents Reflect On Resistance (Rashers Tierney, Rabble.ie)

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Are you neither tarnished nor afraid?

There’s never been a better time to blow.

Via Shell to Sea :

The Shell to Sea campaign is making a fresh call for whistleblowers to come forward to expose malpractice and corruption in the facilitation of the Shell Corrib gas project. The call comes in the wake of the publication of the Guerin report and against the backdrop of the ongoing criminalisation of protest against the imposition of the Corrib gas project in Co Mayo.
Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway said: “We are calling for more whistleblowers from within the ranks of An Garda Síochána, Shell, Shell subcontractors and any State agency involved in facilitating the Corrib gas project to come forward and assist us expose the corrupt practices used to date in attempting to force through this dangerous project.
He was speaking after yesterday’s sitting of Belmullet District Court where three Shell to Sea campaigners were appearing on charges arising from a mass protest at the main Shell work site for the construction of the onshore Corrib gas pipeline.
So far, one former Shell subcontractor – OSSL – has already come forward exposing the corrupt delivery of €35,000 of alcohol to Gardaí drafted into Mayo in 2006 to police protests.
Corrib whistleblowers may contact the Shell to Sea campaign at mayoshelltosea@gmail.com or by using the feedback button at Shell to Sea.

Previously: ‘Shell Gave €35,000 Of Alcohol To Belmullet Gardaí’

Meanwhile…

 

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“GSOC has investigated approximately 124 complaints against members of the force arising from the policing of the Shell to sea protest. Of these complaints, GSOC deemed 37 to be inadmissible. That left 87 admissible cases of which 85 are closed. The following is a breakdown of 57 complaints directly linked to the Shell to Sea protest. There were 33 allegations of assault; 17 cases of abuse of authority; three of discreditable conduct; two of discourtesy; and two of neglect of duty.The remaining 30 complaints do not appear to relate directly to the protest, for example, a person driving home having participated in a protest at the Corrib gas site who was stopped by a garda and who subsequently made a complaint about the manner in which he or she was dealt with. There were no adverse findings in these cases. Some seven files out of the 124 were forwarded to the DPP for consideration, and the DPP directed no prosecution in all seven. These are all GSOC investigations. Disciplinary proceedings were recommended in 16 cases under section 95 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.”

Justice Minister Alan Shatter in the Dáil yesterday.

Read the debate in full here.

Photocall Ireland

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[Willie and Mary Corduffi, of Rossport, Co Mayo. In 2007, Willie was jailed for his part in anti-Shell pipeline protests and was awarded the Goldman Environmental prize in 2009).

Shell to RTÉ?

Of course you would.

Last weekend’s Airing Erris’ seminar about Corrib gas media coverage organised by the peace and justice group, Afri (Action from Ireland) iincluded an address from former producer/editor at RTE and author, Betty Purcell.

Betty revealed

“in 2009, she proposed and scheduled 21 documentaries and only one, ‘Living on the Edge’, a Would You Believe programme about Willie and Mary Corduff’s life on their farm in remote Rossport, was questioned and challenged by management.
It was even suggested, she said, that because TV3 were about to do a documentary on Corrib ‘maybe we should leave it to them’.
She claimed the pressure on her team was ‘sustained’ and stated her belief that Shell personnel appeared to have ‘automatic access’ to senior management in RTE.”

Corrib coverage ‘infected’ by power of Public Relations (Mayo News)

Watch ‘Living On The Edge’ here

Pic via Goldman prize

santa

Rossport Solidarity Camp writes on YouTube:

“Just before Christmas 2013, Shell Santa visited Belmullet District Court just before the court was due to sit to offer the Gardaí some whiskey. However, it seems they prefer if the drink is delivered in private, as the Shell Santa was quickly ushered to somewhere more discreet.”

Via Mark Malone

Any excuse.

Previously: ‘Shell Gave €35,000 Of Alcohol To Belmullet Gardaí’

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In a setback for the Shell Corrib gas pipeline project, the Environmental Protection Agency, which issued the licence last June, conceded in court that a Mayo man was entitled to an order quashing the licence because of defects in carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly granted the order to Martin Harrington (above) of Doohoma, Ballina, Co Mayo, after the EPA said it was not opposing his challenge to the licence issued by the agency to Shell E&P Ireland. The EPA will also pay Mr Harrington’s costs.

The licence permitted the operation of a gas refinery and combustion installations at the Ballinaboy Bridge gas terminal in Co Mayo.

Shell E&P Ireland told an earlier court hearing that this case had “significant potential commercial consequences” for the €2.7bn Corrib gas project.

 

Revised licence for operation of Shell gas terminal at Ballinaboy quashed by Commercial Court (RTE)

Pix:Indymedia/Shell.ie

148512_114728_1Further to claims in the Observer last Sunday that Shell purchased alcohol for garda officers. .

Oil executive-turned-anti Shell-activist, John Donovan (above), writes:

As a long term Shell shareholder I demand that Royal Dutch Shell issues a high court writ against the publisher (me) who for many months has repeatedly posted articles online, picked up by Google News, stating as a matter of fact that Shell has corrupted the Irish Police Force, the Garda.

Shell has an army of several hundred in-house lawyers led by Peter Rees QC. Why are they so reticent on this matter?

If Shell is certain that the events that its former Mr Fixit company OSSL says took place, are in fact an invention by OSSL, then it is duty-bound to issue proceedings to defend the companies reputation against these scandalous lies. 

The same applies to the Garda and the senior Garda officers who have been named in the scurrilous articles. They too must sue, otherwise people will draw the correct conclusion.

Please send all high court writs to my brilliant solicitor and friend, Mr Richard Woodman of Royds of London, who has successfully sued Shell six times in the high court on my behalf and also successfully defended a Counterclaim brought by Shell.

The truth of the matter is that despite the repeated in-house investigations said to have found no evidence, no one at the Garda or Shell will deny that these shocking events (OSSL showering Garda officers with free booze on behalf of Shell) actually happened.

Members of the news media: give Shell and the Garda PR people a call. See if you can obtain a straightforward denial from either that the events revealed in The Observer article took place?  At the moment you are being deceived by trickery into believing that Shell and the Garda are innocent of the charges, when in fact they are guilty as hell. 

The net is closing in on one of the biggest scandals Ireland has ever seen. Shell and the Garda are only making it worse by the cover-up tactics.

Gulp.

Where Is My Defamation Writ From Shell? (John Donovan, RoyalDutchShellPlc.com)

Previously: Nothing to See Here

Strange tale of Shell’s pipeline battle, the Garda and £30,000 worth of booze (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, August 10)

Thanks Richard