Statoil has said that it is "fully confident" about the safety of the Corrib gas onshore pipeline and the project following a meeting yesterday in Norway with relatives of the five Mayo men in Cloverhill prison.
"Statoil would never embark on such a project without taking sufficient safety considerations. We are fully confident in the safety of the pipeline and the project," Helge Hatlestad, Statoil's senior vice-president said in a statement.
However, a member of the new Norwegian government, Labour MP Tore Nordtun, has promised to alert the new administration in Oslo to the urgency of the continued imprisonment of the five men who are opposed to the high pressure pipeline. The five have now spent three months in prison.
"We cannot have such a big company having an argument with our friends in Ireland," Mr Nordtun said. In Norway, such conflict was avoided by dealing with issues of concern, such as safety, before the planning stage, he said.
The Labour MP was one of a number of politicians who met a delegation led by Mayo TD Dr Jerry Cowley (Ind) in Oslo this week to discuss Statoil's role in the impasse. Statoil has a 36.5 per cent state in the Corrib gas field, and is 71 per cent owned by the Norwegian government.
Dr Cowley, who was accompanied by Ms Caitlín Ní Sheighin and John Monaghan, wife and son-in-law respectively of one of the five men, Micheál Ó Seighin, Chris Philbin, son of Brendan Philbin, and Rossport resident Anthony Irwin, said the aim of the visit was to inform people in Norway of the situation.
Speaking on arrival in Dublin last night, Dr Cowley said the visit had received widespread coverage in Norway, and was very successful.
The delegation met Statoil representatives, including Mr Hatlestad and Kai Nielsen, Statoil's director of public affairs, yesterday morning, after a series of meetings which also included discussions with representatives of two of Norway's big unions.
"Statoil wouldn't admit it directly, but all the body language indicated that they felt Shell, as the project leader, had made a mess of this entire project," Dr Cowley said.
Mr Nielsen said the meeting "allowed us to achieve a clearer understanding of the issues central to what is an unfortunate situation for all concerned."
Meanwhile, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent reiterated his party's call for a full oral hearing into the pipeline. He said that as the pipeline was exempt from planning permission the men had no official means of making their position known.
"The Government got us into this mess and must now get us out of it. The reality for the Rossport Five is that they are being imprisoned indefinitely without trial."