Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

The debate shows the Government has learned nothing about the Corrib gas dispute and the people. Ministers could have learned so much about what is wrong with what is happening. The Government is serving the people with the filthy lucre, Shell, which has an agenda. The fact that the project is proceeding means that the country and my county are losing. Fifty permanent jobs will be created in the long term while no tax will be paid by Shell and its partners because of the write-off provided. What is the project about?

Deputy Eamon Ryan referred to project splitting, which the local community pointed out was Shell's game plan. In other words, the company tried to ensure the refinery would be built so that they could say they had to connect it to something. That is how the rest of the project was expected to come together. It was an ingenious and malicious way of fooling the people to secure the company's agenda. I am concerned that the Government is devising a way to ensure any decision it makes on the project is implemented without the consent of the people, no matter what. It is a way to write off the last vestiges of democracy where this issue is concerned and that is disappointing.

I reiterate what Independent Members who visited Bellanaboy stated last Monday. There is a way forward but Shell has never been prepared to examine all the options. Surveys conducted locally indicate that 90% of the people were in favour of what the protestors proposed. In the TG4 poll, 61% supported the Shell to Sea campaign but the Government has never considered the will of the people. Shell was granted permissions that have never been granted. A CPO was used on behalf of a company for the first time so that it could lay a pipeline on people's land.

The Minister's proposal is a further step to ensure his masters, Shell, will get whatever they want. A proposal was made earlier on the basis that there is more than one way to resolve this dispute. A way could be found to bring the gas ashore and everybody I know wants it brought ashore. The people are the salt of the earth and they feel what is proposed will be a great danger to their lives and health into the future whereas they will get little from the project except disappointment and the pollution of their environment. A 400-acre site will be completely taken over by a petrochemical industry, a point repeated in the local newspaper by Deputy Kenny, who believes this will be the centre for the petrochemical industry. It is the game plan that everything will come through this site.

When I visited Norway last year I was told this could not have happened there as local consent would have been required before a project proceeded. However, the Government seems intent on furthering Shell's agenda, despite the fact the project will provide only 50 permanent jobs. The security of supply argument is patent nonsense as the longest pipeline in the world, the Langeled pipeline, will come from Norway to supply gas to the world. The idea of security of supply is no longer valid. There are many other issues, for example, the tax take. Serious questions need to be asked with regard to why we are giving away our gas and oil for nothing before we get it.

The Minister should reconsider the proposed plan whereby the Government can act as mediators between Shell and Shell to Sea to try to achieve consent with regard to how the project might be brought forward. It should not try to devise ways of pushing the project through or continue to ride over local democracy. That is a recipe for disaster. The ball is in the Minister's court. I have clearly outlined my proposal, namely, that the work by Shell stops immediately, the protesters step back and do not protest, and there is a period in which the parties can sit down and work out this issue.

The Minister might respond by saying that Peter Cassells was in Mayo for discussions. However, at no time did Shell or the Government seriously consider the other options that could have ensured this project would mean something to the people of Mayo, and would not jeopardise health and safety. There were five areas where the refinery could have been located but the Minister has only considered the Shell option. That is wrong. He should reconsider the position and make a meaningful response instead of simply rubbishing anything to do with local consent or the wishes of the people.

I always thought government was about people and that the system was to serve the people. It is serving nobody. We are in a lose-lose position. The Minister can reverse this. The only one winning is Shell, which currently makes €3 million every hour.

The area is neglected. Deputy Durkan referred to what this might do for the county. It will do nothing. The best road in the area is between two bogs to facilitate Shell — it is called the Shell road. It is used as the haulage route to take peat from the Bellanaboy site to another site many kilometres away. An Bord Pleanála inspector, Kevin Moore, stated it was a refinery being built in the wrong place. That is the position. When the peat is removed, what is underneath is daub. Shell is trying to do something with this daub but major problems have arisen, whether the Minister knows it. The Minister should reconsider the position and consider local democracy for a change.

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