“This is a beautiful wild area on the edge of the Atlantic ocean and I can well understand and appreciate why the local community would want to protect their environment from Shell or any other multinational.” Cllr Declan Bree told OceanFM radio this morning

“The people of Erris are very proud of their heritage and they clearly want to protect and maintain their natural environment and pass it on to the next generation as it was handed to them.

“As your listeners will be aware local residents here in Bellanaboy and Rossport, have been holding daily protest marches here every morning, for the past couple of years, to highlight their opposition to the Shell project. They assemble here every morning at 7.30 or so and despite the odds they have refused to be intimidated

“When Shell decided to proceed with the refinery hundreds of gardai were moved into the area and they are now stationed here on a semi permanent basis.

“I find it amazing that the Minister for Justice can justify keeping so many guards here in a rural part of Ireland where there has been little or no crime over the years.

“The local people who protest here every morning are ordinary decent people, farmers, housewives, fishermen, teachers - and when they leave their homes they have to face this mass of gardai who are basically acting as security guards for the Shell multinational

“To all intents and purposes this is a community under siege.

“However it’s also obvious to me from my visits here that the majority of gardai who are now temporarily based in Erris have no wish to be here. They joined the Garda Siochana to fight crime not to spend their time in Mayo in conflict with the local community.” Cllr Bree said.

“It also has to be said that there is a minority of gardai who have been consistently aggressive and provocative during the protest marches. It’s as if they were planted here deliberately in the hope that they might provoke local people.

“I witnessed people being baton charged here last November without any provocation. On the same day a police superintendent, apparently with the approval of the Minister for Justice, decided to ban a legitimate peaceful march. It smacked of Northern Ireland in the bad days.

“The fact is that people in Mayo and across the country have been actively campaigning to ensure the Shell Corrib gas project will not proceed as planned. They refuse to be bullied by the might and arrogance of global corporate power and their political allies.

“People from the Erris region have been living with this nightmarish prospect for far too long. They have been intimidated, threatened and even jailed for their refusal to be walked on. Throughout this ongoing ordeal these people continue to demonstrate strength, dignity and courage in the face of enormous adversity. In doing so they have inspired people from all over Ireland to reclaim the power that we hold as individuals, citizens and communities.” said Cllr Bree.