One of the last untouched places in Ireland came under attack from the Royal Dutch Shell company on January 10, 2005. Shell’s war against the people, land and traditions of the inhabitants of this slice of Irish heaven, actually began several years ago when they purchased the Enterprise Oil share of the offshore Corrib gas field. Now the wild coast that inspired writers and poets like William Yeats, who is buried nearby, is under threat from an unprecedented plan to bring raw, untreated gas ashore. Shell’s pipelines would come across protected dunes with unique wildlife, cross a fragile estuary teaming with wildlife, not once but twice, cut through treacherous blanket bog, slice up the farmlands of tiny Rossport and finally reach a hilltop where a gas refinery is being built to process the product.

At the request of local residents battling Shell, Global Community Monitor, traveled to County Mayo, Ireland, to witness the latest bullying tactics of the oil giant. Before Christmas, Shell sent letters to all landowners in the path of their destructive pipeline, warning that the company would enter properties to begin their work. This despite the fact the decision to allow the pipeline was being appealed to the High Court in two cases. The cases allege Shell has not won all the approvals it needs and that the key approval was based on an illegal change of legislation by administrative order.

GCM witnessed Rossport property owners posting no trespassing signs and making preparations to peacefully and legally turn Shell away until the legal matters are resolved. Despite this Shell appeared on January 10, 2005, and attempted to enter property that it had no signed permission for. Shell operatives also illegally trespassed into properties from the shore and other improper means in order to begin their survey work. Farmers then called local law enforcement and pressed complaints of trespass against Shell persons. On January 11, 2005, as schools and hospitals were closing due to a violent storm approached the area with gale force winds, Shell employees again tried to enter lands it was expressly forbidden from. While hard hats and gear flew wildly and it was difficult to stand in these unsafe conditions, Shell’s men persisted.

Shell’s men increased their provocations steadily throughout the day, in hopes of eliciting a violent act from the farmers and their families. At one point, a Shell employee invited one of the woman farmers to strike him. She declined and ordered them gone. Farmers called the press and local radio ran wind blown interviews in the gale force as the scene unfolded. Shell would enter a property and then be asked to leave in front of local Garda (police), while one of their staff would video the moment. Shell employees indicated they would be taking legal action against the landowners.

So the proposal to dig and lay a high volume and pressure pipeline through such an area was greeted with disbelief and shock by the locals. Many of them have lived here for generations and knew from experience how difficult any use of the land was. A strip of reclaimed farm lands is on the sloping hill that meets the estuary known as Broadhaven Bay. The farmer’s ancestors spent decades reclaiming bog land by constructing drains of hand placed stones beneath the bog to begin the long process of drying the land to be suitable for a shallow strip of grass to feed sheep and cattle. Now the fragile landscape and the hard scrabble livelihoods that are emblematic of the people of Northwest Ireland are threatened by Shell’s greed for cheap gas. The Irish government has set rates so low for rights and taxes on extraction on this particular that it is laughable if not so sad.

Shell reportedly misled many residents whose property they wished to cross, by minimizing the hazards of a raw untreated gas pipeline and comparing to a regular gas line. Others were warned that Shell would do it if landowners did not agree and so they were advised to sign the papers for access and get a few pounds out of the deal. The original plan would have had the pipeline coming from 35 kilometers offshore cross hilltop land opposite the Rossport side of the estuary, however recent landslides scrapped that proposal. Shell then set it sights on the populated are of tiny Rossport.

The planning board originally rejected Shell proposal to disrupt families, farms and the treacherous bog land. Investigating Inspector and David Ball, Independent Consultant for the local authority, found that the proposal was unwise due to a variety of environmental and health and safety reasons.