Shell To Sea in West of Ireland Campaign

Background

The Corrib Gas field is a reserve of natural gas situated 80 km off the West Coast of Ireland. It contains an estimated 6 – 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  It is worth about €50 billion – that is €10,000 for every single person living in Ireland today, but because the gas is 100% owned by the oil companies, and the terms are heavily in their favour, the Irish people will not see a cent of that – unless they own shares in Shell or Statoil companies.  Ireland receives no royalties. All construction and exploration costs can be written off against corporation taxes, which are only 25% in Ireland. 

Shell and Statoil are constructing a pipeline. The pipeline is to run past houses, through waterlogged, unstable bog land, in an area which is prone to landslides. The Corrib Scheme would greatly damage the local tourism industry, since toxic waste from the refinery would be dumped into the sea and pollute Broadhaven Bay. The tourists and the local residents would be faced with the prospect of spending time near a dangerous experimental pipeline, a giant refinery and dirty beaches.  Northwest Mayo is a naturally beautiful part of Ireland, with many prehistoric sites and scenic areas. It is an historic region which is threatened by Shell’s unreasonable refusal to clean and process the gas offshore, hence the name of the campaign, “Shell To Sea”.

[for more information: www.corribsos.com  or http://www.indymedia.ie/mayo ]

 Mindful that the Russian Government forced Shell to renegotiate a deal which it had negotiated to grab gas and oil reserves when the USSR collapsed;

Also mindful that in Ireland in the 1970’s, the people’s campaign forced the then government to drop its plan for a nuclear reactor at Carnsore Point;

Also mindful that the present government, at every stage in the Corrib Gas Project, has put the needs of the oil companies ahead of the people in the area, and in Ireland as a whole;

Motion

The European Green Party calls upon the Irish Government to prioritise the health and well-being of the people and the environment over that of the oil multinationals and to renegotiate the deal made with the oil companies and to demand that the oil companies clean and process the gas offshore.