The Cedar Lounge Revolution

According to a piece in the business section of the Sunday Tribune emailed around Shell to Sea campaign activists and forwarded on to me, Statoil is to commence searching for gas, with the intent of putting in a well next year, in an area off the coast of Mayo four times the size of the Corrib gas field in an area where oil and gas deposits were found in 2003.

As it stands, this means another generous cash windfall to pay for new schools, hospitals, public services and anti-poverty measures in Norway who, as with the Corrib field, will benefit immeasurably more than Irish citizens from the exploitation of our natural resources.

With the release of the Rossport Five and what seems to be low-key and somewhat confused blockades down in Bellanaboy, where the proposed Corrib refinery is to be located, the campaign has slipped off the media and political radar. There was a time when the road to Rossport was choked with Green, Labour, Independent and Sinn Féin politicians running down to express solidarity.

But with an election coming, does this mean a re-examination of Ireland’s almost unheard of generosity in the licensing terms available for off-shore oil and gas drilling? Well in January, Minister Noel Dempsey said that he is expecting a review he has had carried out of the existing licensing terms to be received shortly from the consultants. Over three months later and one can only conclude our definition of ’shortly’ and the Minister’s are far apart.

The analysis of the existing terms, and their political background, were outlined clearly in a report published by the Centre for Public Inquiry in November of 2005. It was, some will remember, the last such report as the Minister for Justice launched a smear campaign on the Centre’s chief Frank Connolly, leaking unsubstantiated Garda intelligence to a pet journalist in what would have been a resigning offence in any other country, but in Ireland, and because McDowell was sticking it to the Provos, it’s a wonder he didn’t win some sort of award.

With the election coming, the parties who huffed and puffed on Rossport and the Corrib field, have the opportunity to outline what they would do differently, the alternative licensing terms they would present to the likes of Shell and Statoil, and what they would do specifically with the Corrib contract. Should such proposals appear, they should make for interesting reading.