Shell machine gets stuck at crossroads amid scuffles at Sruwaddacon Estuary

There was a tense stand-off between gardaí and protesters yesterday as a machine for tunnelling under a picturesque bay in Co Mayo was brought in by contractors for Shell.

Scuffles broke out as a huge Garda convoy escorted specialist tunnelling equipment as it travelled from Dublin to the Sruwaddacon Estuary in north Mayo.

Two protesters initially blocked the road on the outskirts of Ballina in the early hours of the morning during a “lock-on”, when they chained themselves to a drum filled with cement.