| News From Ireland By Frank Shouldice
Mayo Gas Terminal Provokes Concern
Residents in the west of Ireland have voiced concerns about planning
authorities giving the go ahead to a proposed gas refinery on the Erris
peninsula. The giant gas rig is being built by Royal Dutch Shell on a 160-acre
inland site at Bellanaboy, Co. Mayo. The refinery will process gas from
the ¤800-million Corrib gas field in the Atlantic Ocean, but local people
believe constructing the rig offshore would be a safer option.
The Erris peninsula is a thinly populated region known for its desolate
beauty and environmental treasures. The bogland peninsula boasts rare species
of flora and fauna, and local residents question whether locating the gas
rig at Bellanaboy will endanger what is regarded as some of the last natural
wilderness left in Ireland. Building the terminal will require a clearance
of some 650,000 cubic meters of peat from the bogland. Another major concern
is an extremely high volume of heavy traffic during construction of the
rig.
The gas terminal represents a further development in the Corrib gas project
since significant reserves were first discovered in 1996. The reserve field
is located in 349 meters of water some 50 miles offshore. Royal Dutch Shell
is the major shareholder in exploiting the find, along with Marathon International
and Statoil. Yet despite the huge scale of operations, the gas discovery
will bring no more than 50 jobs to the region. All of the specialist work
has been contracted out, and following a recent series of factory closures
in north Mayo, residents see little value to the local economy, considering
the environmental risk of the enterprise.
The controversy at Bellanaboy is not the first environmental protest
to occur recently in the region. Many local people in north Mayo suspect
that the area’s high unemployment and low population density is marking
it as a location for ‘dirty’ industries. In addition to the gas rig, Glancre
Teo in nearby Geesala began operations to convert sewage sludge into fertilizer.
Following protests by the Erris Action Group, the company was found to be
operating without necessary planning permission. The Mayo County Council
originally granted Glancre Teo an operating permit but has since decided
that planning permission is also required. A decision is expected shortly
on the plant’s future.
Another company, Irish Environmental Processes (IEP), proposes to convert
the former Asahi plant in Killala into a recycling facility for asbestos.
Local opposition has been organised as the North West Alliance Against Asbestos
with a series of community meetings. IEP is an Irish company which operates
under license from a U.S. company named ARI Technologies. IEP maintains
that ARI procedures have a proven safety record and that the proposed Killala
facility would process asbestos only from Ireland. The matter is under consideration
with the county council but Fine Gael councillor Jarlath Munnelly told the
Irish Times that opposition to recycling asbestos was unanimous in the region.
"Not since 1798, the year of the French, has there been such a unity of
purpose in this area," he remarked.
Report Highlights Change in Ireland’s Population
A new report produced by the Central Statistics Office in Dublin shows
that Ireland is second only to Cyprus in the percentage increase of population
within the EU between 1995 and 2004. The CSO report, titled ‘Measuring Ireland’s
Progress,’ makes a number of observations that underline significant social
change in Irish society.
The average household size has decreased from 3.13 persons to 2.88, with
a 14 percent increase in the number of one-person households. Ireland ranks
third in the EU for the number of 25 to 34-year-olds with a third-level
education.
Less encouraging were findings on social and environmental issues. Expenditure
on social protection policies was the lowest in the EU for the year 2001.
Two years later some 21 percent of the population faced the risk of poverty,
a disproportionately high figure matched only by Slovakia. Ireland uses
landfill to dispose of municipal waste far more than the EU average, and
cumulative inflation of 16 percent from 2000-04 was almost double the EU
average.
GAA Opens Up Croke Park
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) made an historic decision at the
organization’s annual congress this year by opening up its Croke Park headquarters
to non-GAA sporting events such as international soccer and rugby. The decision
marked the end of a highly contentious debate that has caused bitter division
within the Association in recent years.
Under the GAA’s Rule 42, ‘foreign’ sports were effectively prohibited
from using GAA facilities. However, the costly development of Croke Park
into a magnificent stadium altered the debate, with a groundswell of opinion
looking for change. Many who campaigned against Rule 42 put it down to a
simple matter of economics. The state-of-the-art 80,000-seat stadium has
placed a financial strain on the GAA, and few of the Gaelic football or
hurling matches staged there can fill the facility to capacity. Renting
it out for big international soccer or rugby matches would provide a significant
new revenue stream for the GAA.
Many within the Association also felt that Rule 42 made the GAA appear
old-fashioned and out of step with modern Ireland. The excellence of the
stadium itself is testimony to advances made by the GAA, and campaigners
hoped a more inclusive sports policy would move the Association forward
rather than leave it standing still.
The vote at the congress required a two-thirds majority, and although
it passed by 227 votes to 97, the margin was tight enough to indicate widespread
opposition to the change. Significantly, every Ulster County except Donegal
and Cavan voted in favor of upholding Rule 42. The successful motion allows
for the GAA to rent out Croke Park to the Football Association of Ireland
(FAI) and Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) under certain circumstances.
However, this provision is subject to a time frame set by reconstruction
of the outdated IRFU stadium at Lansdowne Road.
Residents in the Croke Park area are unhappy that the volume and array
of events taking place at the venue may be expanded. In June they will see
U2 play three sell-out concerts at the stadium, and following this historic
decision at the congress, the prospect of international sports events in
Croke Park is a real possibility.
Judge Questions ‘Colombia Three’ Verdict
Although the whereabouts of the so-called ‘Colombia Three’ remain a mystery,
a judge on the three-member appeal tribunal has publicly questioned the
guilty verdict returned against them. The three Irishmen — Niall Connolly,
James Monaghan and Martin McCauley (pictured above) — were accused of assisting
FARC rebels in Colombia and passing on expertise gained from IRA bomb-making
methods.
The three men were found not guilty at the initial hearing last April,
but on appeal, they were found guilty by a majority opinion. They were sentenced
to 17 years’ imprisonment for training FARC guerrillas and using false passports.
However, the three men went into hiding before their heavy custodial sentence
was handed down. They have not been seen since.
At a press conference in Bogota, defense lawyers for the Irishmen indicated
that Magistrate Jorge Enrique Torres dissented strongly from the verdict.
“I was overwhelmed by the countless amount of technical evidence used in
this case that was questionable,” Torres reportedly stated. Despite the
men’s disappearance, defence counsel intend to take the case to Colombia’s
Supreme Court in an attempt to have the sentence overturned. The dissenting
magistrate’s comments will be used as part of that appeal.
“Torres clearly points out that there was no certainty of guilt in the
case,” claimed defense lawyer Pedro Mahecha, who alleges the two other judges
came under outside pressure to return a conviction. “The ruling was completely
politicized,” he said.
News In Brief...
CIAN O’Connor, the show jumper who won gold for Ireland at the Athens
Olympics, will not appeal the decision to strip him of his Olympic medal.
The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) ruled that two banned drugs
were found in a urine sample taken from O’Connor’s horse Waterford Crystal
following the Athens win. The 25-year-old jumper from Co. Meath has maintained
he did not knowingly use any drugs to enhance the horse’s performance but
blamed “a technical infraction” for the outcome. He accepted the FEI decision
as well as a three-month ban from competitive jumping . . .
CALLS for a second terminal at Dublin airport have provoked disagreement
between the coalition partners. Despite general agreement that a second
facility is essential to relieve serious congestion, Fianna Fáil ministers
have supported that any extra service will also be run by the Dublin Airport
Authority (DAA). However, their government partners in the Progressive Democrats
favor a privately-run second airport. Michael O’Leary, boss of the hugely
successful low-fare airline Ryanair, has also campaigned strongly for a
second terminal to be run independently of the DAA . . .
INVESTIGATIONS by the Labour Inspectorate are continuing into serious
exploitation of Turkish workers by Gama Construction, a Turkish contractor.
Gama has been heavily involved in infrastructural development in Ireland,
including a number of projects funded by the state. However, it has been
revealed that many of Gama’s 800-strong workforce were receiving just ¤2.20
per hour — less than a third of the minimum wage — and being forced to work
80 hours a week. Trade unionists allege the company was paid full rates
but withheld some of the money from its employees. Gama denies the charges.
When the dispute was made public, the company said it would return some
130 of its staff to Turkey . . .
GREG Beamis, American owner of the sunken Lusitania, has demanded that
the Irish government allow him to carry out a detailed examination of the
famous wreck. En route from New York to Liverpool in 1915, the Lusitania
was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Co. Cork coast with the loss
of 1,200 lives. The site is currently protected by a cultural heritage order.
The German navy claimed it sank the ill-fated passenger liner because it
was carrying armaments aboard, a claim vigorously denied by British and
American authorities. Beamis, one of the partners who bought the wreck from
Cunard Lines in 1982, insists that the only way to find out what happened
would be to allow a deep-sea forensic study of the vessel . . .
MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern was appointed as one of four
Special Envoys for UN Reform by secretary-general Kofi Annan. “This appointment
is a measure of Ireland’s long-standing commitment to the UN and the esteem
it enjoys in all sectors of the membership,” said Ahern, who will monitor
UN-related developments in Europe until September . . .
|
