Once Upon a Time in the West: The Corrib Gas Controversy [Paperback]

The definitive story of the battle between oil giant Shell and a small Irish farming community over the location of an onshore gas pipeline.

'All I want is to stay where I am . . . My heart and soul are in this place.'

(Willie Corduff, one of The Rossport Five)

In a remote, beautiful part of the west of Ireland, a David and Goliath struggle rages between multinational oil company, Shell, and some of the local community of Rossport, County Mayo.

In 1996, Enterprise Oil, subsequently bought by Shell, found a major source of valuable gas offshore in the Corrib gas field. In the attempt to build an onshore pipeline and refinery the oil giant has come into conflict with a small group of locals who, anxious about the safety of their families, the environmental impact of the project and the future of their community, are resisting Shell's plans. The eyes of the nation fell on this tiny community when, in 2005, five of the residents were jailed for refusing to allow Shell onto their land, in contempt of court orders. These men have become known as The Rossport Five.

Irish Times correspondent Lorna Siggins has been covering the controversy from the beginning. No one is better placed to unravel the twists and turns of this fascinating human drama and its political, cultural and environmental shockwaves.

In a new Ireland where economic logic goes largely unchallenged, the Corrib Gas pipeline controversy raises uncomfortable questions about the ways in which Ireland has changed.

In a rural community in the west of Ireland, a bitter struggle continues between a multinational oil and gas giant and a small group of local residents.

In 1996 Enterprise Energy Ireland - which was later bought by Shell - discovered a significant reserve of natural gas off the coast of County Mayo. The local community welcomed the find, hoping it would bring significant benefits to the area. However, as details of the Corrib gas field project began to emerge, many people became concerned. There were fears about the safety of the inshore gas terminal and linking pipeline and about their effects on the environment.

As the project wound its way tortuously through the planning system, local opposition grew, culminating in the jailing in 2005 of five local residents, who became known as the Rossport Five. This galvanized the protestors, and north Mayo became a simmering cauldron of discontent, which has seen arrests and violent incidents continue to this day.

Irish Times correspondent Lorna Siggins has been reporting on the controversy from the outset. No one is better placed to unravel the twists and turns of this fascinating human drama and its political, cultural and environmental shockwaves.

In a rapidly changing Ireland this epic struggle between big business and local interests raises an uncomfortable question: what price are we willing to pay for progress?

Lorna Siggins is Western and Marine Correspondent with The Irish Times, and has over twenty-five years' experience reporting on news events at home and abroad. One of her first news assignments involved reporting on the Piper Alpha production platform explosion in the North Sea on 6 July 1988, which claimed 167 lives. Now based in Galway, she is the author of Everest Calling, on the first Irish ascent of Mount Everest; The Woman Who Took Power in the Park, a biography of former Irish president Mary Robinson; and Mayday! Mayday!, an account of air-sea rescue in Irish waters.