Sinn Fein News reports that more than 2,000 people turned out Saturday at a celebration rally in Dublin for the five Mayo men freed from jail Friday. The men were in jail for more than three months after attempting to halt the laying of a potentially dangerous Corrib gas pipeline by Shell Oil through their lands in Mayo. The five men had refused to give assurances that they would not obstruct work on their lands.
The President of the High Court will decide next month whether the men are still to be punished for an illegal protest at the Corrib Gas Development site. The court will also hear evidence that Shell itself was in breach of court orders by continuing on-site development work.
One of the five, Micheal O'Seighin, told the crowd that the important thing was that the people of Ireland should know the truth about the pipeline and their imprisonment had achieved this.
Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams said, "I want to welcome yesterday's release of the Rossport 5 and the fact that there is now to be mediation between the men and Shell. It is a disgrace that they were locked up in the first place and forced to remain in jail for 94 days. Of course this is not just about the men and Shell. This is an issue for the Irish government. They need to tell the Corrib Gas consortium to move their pipeline offshore. They need to act in the interests of people of this country and not multi-national corporations. I find it hard to believe that such companies would not listen to government advice on this matter."
Upon their release the Rossport Five (Willie Corduff, brothers Philip and Vincent McGrath, Mícheál Ó Seighin, and Brendan Philbin ) issued a joint statement that read in part, "We the Rossport 5 would like to thank our neighbors, friends and fellow Irish citizens for the loving support we and our families have received during these 94 traumatic days. In addition we would like to thank the incoming Norwegian government for their respect, support and assistance.”
"We remind Shell and their Irish government partner that imprisonments have historically and will always fail as a method to secure the agreement of Irish people.”
"We now call on our supporters to intensify the campaign for the safety of our community and families.”
Speaking to Daily Ireland just hours after his release from jail, Vincent McGrath said, “… if the same circumstances prevailed again, we would have no choice but to take the same action.”
The credit for the release of the men must go to the public campaign to free them which garnered support from many circles.
It also seems also that the intervention of the incoming center-left Norwegian government was a key factor in brokering the deal that led to the release of the men. The Norwegian state owns 71 per cent of Statoil, which is a minority shareholder in the Corrib field. Senior politicians are believed to have put pressure on Statoil to help to resolve the dispute. According to the Sunday Business Post, a senior Statoil executive traveled to Dublin last week and is believed to have played a key role in negotiations which led to the release.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association said the decision to release the men was the right one. The group said it supported a farmer's right to defend their farms from wealthy and greedy private enterprises. Sources: Sunday Business Post (Ireland), Evening Echo (Ireland), Sinn Fein News, Ireland On Line, Daily Ireland
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