The Celtic League General Secretary, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, has written to Ireland's Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to express concern about drilling operations undertaken by Shell in a SAC (Special Area of Conservation) in Mayo.

The issue was highlighted by local environmentalists of Shell to Sea who intervened to halt the drilling.

The text of the General Secretary's letter is set out below:

"Dear Minister John Gormley TD

Shell's use of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)

As you will no doubt be aware, on 23rd October 2007 Shell Petroleum Ltd. was successfully stopped from drilling on a Special Area of Conservation(SAC) called Glengad Bog, Rossport by a group of Shell to Sea protesters, because they had no planning permission to do so.

It seems that Shell had been drilling in the area for a whole three days previous to this and had been using a road going down to the shore that had not been given access to them. We have reason to believe that for a SAC to be used in this way permission from yourself is needed, but we have been informed that no such permission has been granted by you for Shell to use this particular SAC in this way. We would therefore like to know if you intend to give permission to Shell to use this or any other SAC in the Rossport area.

The excuse of the Shell workers on the site was that they did not know they were on a SAC, until they were shown a map by one of the protesters. It is our assumption that Shell employees would be only too aware of where they could or couldn't drill, unless they had been told to disregard any known restrictions. This display of disregard and disrespect for Ireland's natural environment has been all too self-evident in the work of Shell and its employees in the area. Moreover with the arrival of the gardaí, the workers were told to continue with their work and the protesters told to leave the area, despite being shown maps proving that the drilling was illegal.

The League has written to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Shell Plc. itself questioning the role and impartiality of the gardaí in the work being undertaken. We have been assured that the gardaí are not 'Shell Cops', but it would seem in this case they were! It is unfair to expect environmental activists to undertake the work that the gardaí or employees from your own department should be doing themselves. Neither can Shell, as one of the biggest multinational petroleum companies in the world, be expected to exercise self restraint in its search for oil.

In our view congratulations should be extended to the Shell to Sea protesters for ensuring that Ireland's natural environment is not exploited and will remain unspoilt for future generations to enjoy.

We look forward to hearing your views on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot

Cc Bertie Ahern, taoiseach [at] ... Petroleum Affairs Division, PAD admin [at] ..."

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

07/11/07

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