Norway may intervene in Rossport Five row

A NEW Labour-led government in Norway could soon intervene in the Rossport Five row over a Shell gas pipeline in Co Mayo.

The Scandinavian state has a 71% majority shareholding in Statoil which in turn owns a 35% stake in the Corrib gas development project.

A coalition led by the Norwegian Labour Party yesterday won a majority of seats in a general election and looks poised to oust the centre-right government.

Irish Labour Party TD Ruairi Quinn yesterday said his Norwegian colleagues had made it clear in the past they are opposed to the ongoing controversy.

The five Co Mayo landowners have spent almost three months in Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison for contempt of court over blocking construction on an inshore pipeline.

“The Government will examine Statoil’s involvement in the Co Mayo gas pipeline when it comes to power next month,” said Mr Quinn, the party’s Europe spokesman.

“The Norwegian Labour Party have made it clear that they want no involvement of a Norwegian state company in such a scandal.”

Rossport Five supporter and TD Finian McGrath welcomed the prospect of an intervention by Norway in the three-month saga.

“It’s totally unacceptable that a State company like Statoil can allow a situation to happen where five family men are imprisoned for taking a stand against public safety and abuses of our natural resources,” he said.

Mayo TD Jerry Cowley and some of the jailed men’s relatives are set to fly to Norway early next week.