Boycott Shell - Free the Five !!!

[rebs23]

The construction of the ESB HQ on Fitzwilliam Square went through the proper planning process, complete with the blessing of an independent expert, who was a leading scholar of Georgian architecture. Protests were ignored and as a result there is now an incongruous eyesore spoiling Fitzwilliam Square.
The planing process cannot always be relied upon, and in this country is often conveniently ignored for money or votes. One of the the supposedly independent consultants whose report was relied upon in the planning process in this case has Shell as a major shareholder.

The Irish Planning System is probably one of the most expensive and lenghty planning processes anywhere in the world. It has changed significantly over the last 10 years alone and has gone from one extreme to the other. Within any planning process anywhere there are going to be ugly/inappropriate buildings built. There is also no accounting for taste or style. No planning system can fully protect against that. As for independant consultants there were many in this case and I don't think the process took just one into consideration.

The point in relation to the Rossport 5 is that they lost in the democratic planning system which is extensive, includes several appeals and now feel they can take the law into their own hands.

[liam88]

Rubbish about workers getting laid off is just stupid......should the Rwandan genocide have been condoned because it was a job for the soldiers?

Shell treat their employees like cr*p-my parents both worked for Shell and have experienced it first hand. Shell could get the oil without this pipeline but it would cost that little bit more for them -same as Totaliterian oil in Burma, human rights and lvies do not equal 1p to these pople :mad:

[Bald Student]

the technology being used for the pipeline is unproven.I didn't want to get involved in this discussion but I can't let that go unchallenged. I don't have any experience in pipelines but I do have a degree in engineering and from what I can tell the technology is a big thick steel pipe surrounded by about a metre of concrete. There is nothing unproven about that. The steel pipe will be thick enough to take multiples of any pressure it's likely to ever have to and the concrete will prevent anyone from accidentally damaging the pipe if they're out digging.

What's going through the pipe (natural gas mixed with water) is fairly standard stuff and has gone through similar pipelines many times before so there won't be any surprises there. All in all, very bog standard, well understood, proven technology.

[bigmac]

Shell treat their employees like cr*p-my parents both worked for Shell and have experienced it first hand.


Can you give examples Liam? I'd be interested in hearing your side of the story as I've never heard any Shell employee complaining about the company.

[anto1208]

Rubbish about workers getting laid off is just stupid......should the Rwandan genocide have been condoned because it was a job for the soldiers?

Shell treat their employees like cr*p-my parents both worked for Shell and have experienced it first hand. Shell could get the oil without this pipeline but it would cost that little bit more for them -same as Totaliterian oil in Burma, human rights and lvies do not equal 1p to these pople :mad:

you are kidding ? you are compairing genocide to a few farmers in jail .
about 280 workers have been laid off , that could be 280 families with no pay check coming in ,no money for the mortgage etc etc , that to me is a lot more important than a farmer complaining about having a pipe through there land ,

there is no such worries about the bord gais pipe line that runs across the country

[monutdfc]

there is no such worries about the bord gais pipe line that runs across the country...following a strange zig-zag route through constituencies of the ministers of the time and/or marginal constituencies ;)

[liam88]

you are kidding ? you are compairing genocide to a few farmers in jail .
about 280 workers have been laid off , that could be 280 families with no pay check coming in ,no money for the mortgage etc etc , that to me is a lot more important than a farmer complaining about having a pipe through there land ,

there is no such worries about the bord gais pipe line that runs across the country

I'm comparing the principle. If Shell paid that little bit ore money to have a gas refinery at sea as opposed to smack bang through peoples land then the workers would not have to be liad off....the problem is Shell wasnt to pay as little as possible and if that means a few hundred jobs are lost or a few hundred lives are in danger (or even a couple of executions) then it's not their problem......same with Total, Nestle and Coke; profit comes before people.

With regards to Shell and their employees-i'm talking about engaged couple being put on seperate shifts so they never see each other despite having worked perfectly well together before the bosses found out they were engaged, people being made redundant then not given a pension because they were 2 years to young.....the kind of stuff that's not life threatening but shows that the bosses just really do not care.

[liam88]

there is no such worries about the bord gais pipe line that runs across the country

Did they steal land and put it on aunstable ground? No?

[Student Mullet]

If Shell paid that little bit ore money to have a gas refinery at sea as opposed to smack bang through peoples land then the workers would not have to be liad off.But they would have to work on a rig which is much more dangerous than working on solid ground. The gas would still have to be piped ashore smack bang through peoples land. Safety for the workers would have been reduced and safety for the locals would be the same.

This is why competent engineers and not local farmers are employed in the design and construction of gas refinerys.


Did they steal land and put it on aunstable ground? No?Liam, the land is not being stolen. It is being bought and paid for according to the laws of this country. The Bord Gais pipes would have been constructed according to the same laws.

[A face]

about 280 workers have been laid off , that could be 280 families with no pay check coming in ,no money for the mortgage etc etc

But is that actually true ?? .... i know its been put out there and it would obviously ring a few alarm bells with people ..... but the companies who sub-contracted the work, did they employ workers specifically for this job ? And the total amount of workers .... is 280 to do all the work on the land (does that figure not include anyone working at sea) .... I wouldn't put it past any company to try and use the media for their own benefit ... so i would take that with a grain of salt until its more than just a rumour. Nothing 'official' from Shell yet on that one.

Does everyone know that the state wont actually make a red cent from all of this, not a bean !!

[Thunderblaster]

You cannot describe the Rossport five as highly intellectual, sophisticated people. They are your average boghoppers from the butt end of beyond that would pass for Irish jokes. Didn't the British expel the wild people down that region? Western Irish people takes silly notions to object to anything that would improve the quality of life of the region.