Public inquiry is the only way taxpayers can get the facts in gas row

THE dismissal by Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey of Shell to Sea’s latest initiative is most disturbing.

This follows his self-serving declaration that the Erris situation is as intractable as that in the North.

Shell’s modus operandi is firmly established internationally: it will only operate to the minimum standards required by the client government.

It is not Shell, but Mr Dempsey’s Government that dictates the play.

He cannot have forgotten that it was through his predecessor, the disgraced Ray Burke, that the current regime under which our oil/gas reserves would be exploited was devised: that through his colleague, Frank Fahy, Shell was provided with a State-owned site and highly questionable licences and pipeline permissions; that through his Government’s local Mayo councillors permission for Shell’s refinery was delivered on a singularly inappropriate site, and it is now through the daily deployment of large numbers of gardaí — our gardaí, at our expense — that the refinery’s construction is being forced on the people of Erris. Mr Dempsey’s reference to the North, designed to suggest his impartiality, was laughable.

It does, however, have some ironic resonance. In the North, a government which represented sectional interests continually failed to address the concerns of a section of its community, using its police force to suppress dissent in the belief that it would dissipate. It did not dissipate, and the situation could only be resolved by external intervention. The dissent of the people of Erris will not dissipate either. Here in the South, Mr Dempsey’s Government cannot be allowed to say no. It is now time for a public inquiry to investigate this project in its totality.

This must include all national and local concerns: technical, environmental and financial, including any contributions that may have been made to political representatives, local businessmen or landowners.

This is the least the Irish taxpayer deserves.

Bernard Grimes

98 Lindsay Road

Glasnevin

Dublin 9