Pipeline protesters vow to continue

ANTI-PIPELINE protesters in Mayo have vowed to continue with their campaign of opposition to Shell’s Corrib gas line development despite “extreme pressure from the state”.

On Thursday Shell to Sea campaigners Maura Harrington, 55, and Niall Harnett, 43, were sentenced to four and eight months in jail respectively at Bellmulet District Court.

Both protesters were convicted under Section 8 of the Public Order Act for “failing to comply with the directions of a garda” and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Mr Harnett was sentenced to a further consecutive four-month period under Section 2, accused of assaulting a garda last year at Glengad, Co Mayo, where the Corrib gas pipeline makes its landfall.

It is the third time this year that Ms Harrington, a retired school principal, has been jailed for protesting against the Corrib Gas project. She was imprisoned in Mountjoy’s Women’s Prison, Dublin, on Thursday but released yesterday on €1,000 bail pending an appeal against her conviction.

Several other protestors are awaiting sentence, with more than 50 people estimated to have recently come before the courts, or are due to, in connection with the protest campaign.

Several other protesters have been arrested by gardaí in recent weeks and told that evidence has been compiled about their alleged criminal activity at Shell related sites.

Shell to Sea spokesman Terrence Conway said: “The increased pressure from the State in support of Shell will not stop opposition to this pipeline. If they get away with this behaviour then no community in the country will be safe from such activity.”

He added that those opposed to the pipeline were awaiting an An Bord Pleanála decision on whether the pipeline can be laid on land before embarking on the next stage of their protest. An oral hearing into the gas pipeline project finished last month and its judgement is expected shortly.