Shell-to-Sea campaigners to march on Dáil

Supporters of the five Co Mayo men jailed over their opposition to the Corrib gas pipeline are to march on the Dáil next month…

Supporters of the five Co Mayo men jailed over their opposition to the Corrib gas pipeline are to march on the Dáil next month.

The Shell-to-Sea campaign is also seeking the relocation of the proposed gas terminal to an offshore location.

The demonstration outside Corrib House, Shell Ireland's headquarters in Dublin, will be held on Saturday, October 1st and will proceed from the Garden Of Remembrance in Parnell Square at 2.30pm to Leinster House.

Shell-to-Sea is calling on trade unions, community groups, political parties and the general public to support the rally.

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Máire Ní Sheighin, daughter of one of the jailed men, dubbed the "Rossport five", said: "The responsibility for this entire mess at the hands of the Government. It is they who granted the consents to this consortium; it is time for them to start acting in the interests of ordinary people and not those of the big multinationals."

The five men - Micheal O'Seighin, Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, and brothers Vincent and Philip McGrath - have pledged to remain in jail until their concerns about the safety of the pipeline are addressed.

The five have been in jail for nearly three months for refusing to commit before the High Court not to interfere with construction on the nine-kilometre stretch of onshore pipe from Bellanaboy to Rossport.

Shell had sought their committal, and they remain in jail despite the company later conceding part of its works did not have ministerial consent.

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy is Digital Production Editor of The Irish Times