A-Infos (en) Ireland, Anarchist journal, Workers Solidarity #94 -

A consortium of Shell, Statoil, and Marathon do a deal with the 
government allowing them exclusive exploitation rights to the Corrib gas 
field, off Mayo. Not only that, but they are allowed to write off their 
costs against taxes, meaning that the whole project is being funded by 
the PAYE taxpayer, who will receive nothing, not even lower gas prices. 
It may sound a bit iffy but there is no garda investigation into 
possible bribery or corruption.
> Shell's cops
The locals in Rossport have a problem with a high-pressure gas pipeline 
going close to their homes, and want the gas refined offshore instead. 
That shouldn’t be a problem, Shell can well afford it, last year they 
made a profit of €2.39 million every single hour. But the companies 
don’t care and the government, after ‘listening’ and ‘consulting’, takes 
the side of big business. So the locals, having petitioned, lobbied and 
pleaded, decide they have no option left but to obstruct construction of 
the pipeline and refinery.

The government springs into action, ‘law and order’ must be upheld. Over 
a hundred gardai are sent to this sparsely populated rural community. 
Locals are provoked, called names, pushed about. They have never 
experienced anything like this before.

Meanwhile, down in Limerick residents of Moyross have been subjected to 
intimidation, arson and shootouts between gangs of drug dealers. This 
has gone on for years. Has the government done anything to uphold ‘law 
and order’ there? Have they moved in hundreds of gardai to close down 
the gangs? Have they put in cash for education and jobs to provide a 
future for young people?
Of course not. Their one initiative was to appoint former Dublin City 
Manager, John Fitzgerald, to “co-ordinate initiatives at tackling social 
exclusion in Moyross”. This is the man who was in charge when anti-bin 
tax activists were jailed. He was also the one who tried to ban 
postering, so that only those rich enough to buy newspaper ads could 
advertise their events.

He will ‘consult’, publish expensive reports, and tell us that things 
are getting better. His job is not to do anything much, just to make it 
look as if the government ‘cares’. If the government get around to doing 
anything useful it will be because they feel under pressure, not because 
they care. If they cared they would have done it already.

Should we be surprised that the greed of Shell is more important the 
needs of working families? In a capitalist society those with capital 
(and oil & gas giants have shedloads of it) come first. It’s not called 
capitalism for nothing.

The gardai sometimes do a good job, putting drunk drivers off the road 
is one example. Sometimes they do a bad one, like the Donegal frame-ups. 
And sometimes they do a deadly one, like the unexplained deaths of Brian 
Rossiter and Terence Wheelock in garda stations.

Whatever your experience of them is, it is clear that their main and 
most important function is not upholding some impartial ‘law and order’, 
but upholding the power and privilege of the millionaires. 
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This article is from Workers Solidarity 94 Nov/Dec 2006
Download the PDF file of WS 94 http://struggle.ws/pdfs/ws/ws94.pdf
Read the other articles from WS94 online http://www.wsm.ie/story/1660
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