Legal moves to free five gas pipeline protesters

LEGAL moves are to be made tomorrow that could lead to the release of the five County Mayo men jailed indefinitely for attempting to block the Shell Corrib pipeline from going through their land.

The men from the Rossport area of North Mayo, who have been in Cloverhill Prison in Dublin since Wednesday last, are insisting that the gas be treated offshore before being passed through the pipeline.

Solicitor Greg Casey, who represents Rossport resident Monica Muller and environmental activist Peter Sweetman, is seeking to have the court order that resulted in the men being jailed either changed or discharged on the basis that Shell does not have the necessary consents that it claimed to have at the earlier court hearing in April. “We don’t have a difficulty in Shell marking out the route of the pipeline, but we don’t want the pipe installed,” Mr Casey said yesterday.