Madam, - Your Editorial of July 5th on the Mayo contempt case asserts that "the Health and Safety Authority accepted that the pipeline met international standards." In fact the Shell pipeline was never subjected to the planning process: by Ministerial fiat, it was exempted from planning. An Bord Pleanála was not involved. The HSA have no function in this pipeline and has refused to carry out a safety analysis, even when requested to do so on a commercial basis.
Where did you get the idea that the HSA accepted that the pipeline met international standards, when it refused to involved itself in the process in spite of constant urgings from concerned Rossport residents? An Bord Pleanála noted that refining offshore is an option, but not developed by Shell. An Bord Pleanála neither did nor did not "uphold" the pipeline plan - it was never asked.
The Rossport five and their families have one demand only. They require that normal international technical standards be adhered to in the siting of this pipeline complex. Nothing more but nothing less. Madam, do you find this unreasonable? The law, where it is just, must be obeyed. Where it facilitates injustice it must be opposed, openly and steadfastly. The Rossport five are in jail on one issue - the safety of our people, which is not negotiable. Bunreacht na hÉireann demands no less. - Yours, etc,
Dr JERRY COWLEY TD, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.
Madam, - What law is this which allows five innocent men to be jailed in order to facilitate the driving of a highly dangerous untreated gas pipeline through their lands?
What law is it which allows Mayo County Council to permit the development of a huge refinery complex in such a unique landscape of special marine and land conservation and allows An Bord Pleanála to overrule its inspector's report and permit the dumping of an entire bog from one townland to another?
What law is this which allows our Government to grant foreshore licences and compulsory acquisition orders in such an area to facilitate this cheapskate onshore development by Shell, a recognised international polluter?
There are many donkeys in the beautiful fields of Erris but the law thus applied would appear to be the greatest ass of all! Or is it our Government, which brays loudly to the east about Sellafield while facilitating shell's environmental degradation in the west?
In the national interest, Shell's onshore plans must stop. Refining must take place at sea to full international standards, as would surely be demanded by any other state. - Yours, etc,
BERNARD GRIMES, Lindsay Road, Dublin 9.