A-Infos (en) Ireland, Anarchist wsm.ie, Protests at Shell HQ against jailing of fisherman Pat O'Donnell by Andrew N Flood

Over 50 Shell to Sea campaigners gathered at the Shell head quarters in Leeson street 
Dublin Tuesday evening to protest at the jailing of 52 year old Erris fisherman Pat 
O'Donnell for resisting Shell's experimental gas pipeline. Pat received a seven month 
sentence which has the added benefit for Shell of taking his boat off of Broadhaven Bay 
for the period they need to carry out major underwater construction work and repairs. Pat 
has twice previously been arrested and held without charge when Shell has needed to carry 
out work in the bay. ---- There has been a long running struggle in Erris, an isolated and 
impoverished area of rural Ireland, for most of the last decade. Shell have been 
attempting to impose an experimental gas pipeline on the local community many of whose 
houses lie within the blast radius that would result in the event of a pipeline failure.

As well as the issue of pipeline safety the Shell to Sea campaign is also demanding an end 
to the Great Oil and Gas Giveaway under which Shell and other corporations are been given 
the oil & gas reserves found around Ireland (minimum value 420 billion) without paying any 
royalties. The last five years in particular have seen many protests where residents, 
supported by others who have travelled to the area to show solidarity, have attempted to 
block construction or dismantle the frequently illegal structures that have been erected. 
The Irish state has reacted with waves of violence and then arrests and a massive 
deployment of security forces that has seen over 21 million euro wasted and at its peak 
seen up to 700 personnel from the police, Navy, airfare and private security forces 
deployed against the local community. Workers Solidarity Movement members have been 
consistently involved alongside others with solidarity work in this struggle both locally 
and elsewhere in Ireland.

Pat O’Donnell was well known to all of us and all those who have visited the camp as he 
has spent much time explaining the issues to visitors to the area. Dublin Shell to Sea 
spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins said: “Pat O’Donnell is a well respected and popular local 
fisherman in Mayo. He is known to all in the community and everyone is deeply upset by his 
imprisonment and the smears against his character for his opposition to the Corrib Gas 
Project in its current form. Pat O’Donnell is a gentleman who is neither a ‘bully’ nor a 
‘thug’. He is standing up his and his community’s rights and has been criminalised and 
vilified for doing so. It is unacceptable that Shell to Sea campaigners are being 
criminalised for their opposition to the Corrib Gas Project.  The law is being applied in 
an extremely selective manner in Mayo.  Thirty local people were hauled up in front of the 
courts last week alone all on minor charges.”

Terence Conway, a resident of the area and Shell to Sea spokesperson, said in response to 
the sentence "the jailing of Pat O Donnell shows selective prosecution on behalf of the 
Gardaí. Pat O'Donnell was picked out of a crowd of 60 people. The sentences are totally 
disproportionate to any alleged law-breaking and seem to be a punishment for opposing the 
Governments' facilitation of Shell. Pat O'Donnell has been a constant thorn in Shell's 
side as he has refused to be bought off, and has upheld his legal and traditional right to 
fish in Broadhaven Bay. Now, as Shell prepare to occupy Broadhaven Bay in the coming 
months for further pipeline work, Pat O'Donnell is conveniently stuck in jail."

Whenever Shell have needed to carry out construction work in the bay Pat has been removed 
from the scene. In the summer of 2008 and 2009 this mean his arrest while fishing on the 
bay and his detention without charge until pieces of work had been done. More sinisterly 
on 11 June 2009 Pat's boat was sunk by 4 armed and masked men who boarded it while he 
fished at night in the bay shortly after it emerged that several men who had worked as 
security at the Shell compound the previous summer had been involved in an attempt to 
start a civil war in Bolivia. (see The Shadow over Erris ).

The jailing of Pat and the sentencing of several other Shell to Sea campaigners comes in 
the aftermath of An Bord Pleanala vindicating the opposition of the local community to the 
experimental gas pipeline when it found in November that up to half of Shell's proposed 
onshore pipeline route was "unacceptable" on safety grounds. Even mainstream journalists 
have acknowledged that this finding means "members of the local community didn’t just have 
a right to protest. They had a duty to do so." (Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times, Feb 16). 
Shell in the meantime are pushing ahead with the construction project with the full 
backing of the Irish state including the 'Green' Party. The Green Party in opposition took 
part in protests against the experimental pipeline, once in government the same people 
declared it safe!

This audio file is an interview with Dublin Shell to Sea spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins 
carried out during the protest which covers not only Pat's jailing but also the scale of 
the great oil and gas giveaway under which the energy corporations stand to pocket 
hundreds of billions that should be funding health and education. After Caoimhe there are 
some brief comments from Dermot about the anonymous nature of Shell's HQ. The audio file 
is about 10 minutes in duration.

More information
History of the struggle
The Great Oil & Gas Giveaway
WSM coverage of the struggle
More articles from Andrew on the Shell to Sea struggle
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