Corrib row investigator unduly critical of the gardaí

YOUR ISSUE of April 27 quoted a report from the Frontline organisation on the Corrib gas project and related matters.

The people of Mayo may not be aware of Frontline or what its functions are, so it is important that it gets its facts right, even though it has no statutory or supervisory role and its findings have no compulsion.

Some of our group, Pro-Gas Mayo, met the Frontline investigator in Mayo in October 2008. We are not surprised by the report as we got the distinct impression at that meeting that he came to it early on with his mind almost made up. We gave him examples of intimidation and actual evidence of damage to quarry-owners and business properties which gave their services to Shell, but such matters do not appear to be taken into consideration, as from a cursory reading I find he refers only to damage to a Shell fence. The report is also unduly critical of the gardaí who merely enforce the law and comments from judges at recent court sittings about thuggery, bullies and vigilante activity on behalf of Shell to Sea speaks for itself.

The Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) was never interfered with when investigating complaints and in fact only one complaint of the many made appeared, in the opinion of the GSOC, to have had any substance at all – surely a startling statistic.

The call for a rights observer to be present if the onshore Shell gas pipeline is upheld may in fact be a good one as the gardaí or other statutory authorities have nothing to fear. We also feel that the drawing into this matter of Michael Dwyer, who was assassinated in Bolivia, is rather pathetic. He was a young man who worked on a security firm here for a few months, as he did in a pub in Galway and other places. Such sinister connections are unworthy of any report and undermine it totally. Other matters which should have been dealt with more adequately include the fact that despite so-called favourable tax terms, only two companies sought to apply for a licence here at the outset, given the harsh conditions, and Shell will pay 26% corporation tax on profits while other companies pay 12%. There are still about 700 people working on the project (1,100 at peak) and the jobs and benefits that will accrue when it is finished will be very valuable in an area long starved of investment.

Among those who met the investigator here at our meeting were Padraig Cosgrove, chairman, whose home overlooks the project, and myself, as secretary of Pro Gas Mayo.

In the report we are named and described as “businessmen”. In fact we are both retired with no vested interests only the good of the area.

Brendan Cafferty

Ballina

Co Mayo