A LARGE tunnel-boring machine belonging to oil company Shell was expected to remain on the back of a lorry overnight after the vehicle jack-knifed at an isolated Co Mayo crossroads early yesterday morning. That was despite efforts by large tow-trucks to move it yesterday evening.
The lorry was part of a large convoy, flanked by Garda vans and outriders, as well as other security personnel, that left Dublin Port on Sunday night, transporting sections of the machine to the oil company’s operations in Co Mayo. The incident blocked a junction on the L1203 and R312 roads, at Glenamoy crossroads from early yesterday.
A Shell spokesman said it was working with gardaí and Mayo County Council to resolve the matter. “Shell EP Ireland apologises for the inconvenience caused to all members of the public affected by the road blockage.”
Spokesman for community group Pobail Chill Chomáin John Monaghan said the debacle was “yet another example of the lax approach to planning law by the developers and the authorities”.
“Apart from the local disruption, including lack of access for emergency vehicles, many local residents are concerned that such loads were allowed to use roads not fit for such use and that the convoy – with an extensive Garda escort – ended up off the designated haulage route, the adherence to which is a legal requirement and part of the planning permission for this latest part of the Corrib scheme,” Mr Monaghan said.
County manager Peter Hynes said the local authority had issued special permits some weeks ago for the heavy loads carried on the Shell lorries. Mr Hynes said the authority “would not be taking any action against the developer as the special permit allowed for the ‘abnormal load’ to traverse a route from Dublin to Mayo that had no relation to the local haulage route for regular Shell works”.
He said emergency road widening works would be implemented last night to further facilitate traffic. Mr Hynes confirmed that the weight of the lorry and its load was about 170 tonnes.
Shell christened the giant tunnel-boring machine, Fionnuala, after one of the four Children of Lir who, according to mythology, were transformed into swans and banished to the nearby island of Inishglora, off Erris. When assembled, the 500-tonne machine is 149 metres long.
Several protests had already impeded the progress of the convoy, with veteran anti-Shell campaigner Maura Harrington blocking it with her car at the Bellacorrick crossroads at about 4.30am on Tuesday. Scuffles also broke out as the convoy made its way through Ballina earlier where there was a tense stand-off between gardaí and protestors.
A Garda spokesman confirmed that four men were arrested for public order offences during the protests. He also said efforts had been made to facilitate local access on the road by yesterday afternoon. The convoy included four lorries transporting specialist tunnelling equipment bound for the Sruwaddacon estuary, where one of the longest raw gas subsea tunnels in western Europe will be built to link the pipeline to the inland refinery at Bellanaboy.