Priests right to back residents in gas pipeline row

BRENDAN CAFFERTY (Letters, November 6) seeks to take local clergy in Mayo to task because they have raised concerns over the Corrib gas pipeline. Yet in doing so the priests were only following the basic tenets of Christianity.

Thou shalt not steal: All over the world nation states are increasingly protective of their energy reserves. The gas in Mayo was signed away to Shell for next to nothing. The gas field is worth billions. How many hospital beds would a fair share of the proceeds have financed? How many extra, non-prefab classrooms? How many fire services?

Shell’s gas pipeline goes through private land acquired by compulsory purchase orders issued against local landowners. Nobody’s land is safe from profiteers now. The founding fathers of this State would never have envisaged or allowed another “plantation” such as this.