Corrib Forum welcome

Cllr Keith Martin has warmly welcomed the decision to establish a Corrib Gas Forum  aimed at resolving the ongoing Corrib gas dispute.

 

Cllr Martin says "This whole issue has been handled badly at local and national level.  A solution will not be easy to find but this is the first step.  I also think there have been errors on both sides but the bulk of the responsibility lies with Shell and the Government who have trodden on the rights of locals from day one and who have allowed our nation's natural resources to be exploited to no benefit of the country."

 

At the 2007 Labour Party Conference in Wexford, Cllr Martin and the Westport Branch of the Labour Party, voted in support of a motion, moved by UCD and Dublin South branches calling for the Shell project to be moved off shore and for the terms of the agreement, whereby the state makes nothing in revenue and does not receive a discounted price on the gas to be re-negotiated.

The motion noted that the land of local residents had been handed over to Shell by compulsory purchasing orders to procure the pipeline's construction. It went on to list negative aspects of the project, and noted that governments led by Fianna Fáil had given corporations involved up to 100 per cent tax write-off.