There are certain things about the rules that exist here in Rossport and the surrounding area. Since i've arrived i've found that there seems to be one set of rules for the locals and one for Shell. When Shell originally wanted to place a pipeline through peoples land, past their front doors and up into national parkland they were turned down. When the surveyors were chased off the farmers land, the farmers were jailed for 94 days for being in comtempt of court, basically for not letting Shell have their land. The Garda actively ordered a JCB digger to drive through a crowd trying to stop trespassing of Shell workers even with a legal injunction.
This said, whenever we set foot on Shell's land, land bought from the publically owned parks department (coillte) we're dragged off by the scruff of our necks. The same is to be said about last week. Two months ago a court order gave the solidarity camp, a network of tents around a central wooden structure to be removed from an S.A.C or Special area of conservation, due to the 'irreperable damage' that it caused. Last week RPS, under the instruction of Shell were drilling bore holes and setting wrought iron posts in concrete.
(John Monaghan points out the Illegal road to the SAC)
When we arrived to stop this happening, the police turned up. We pointed out that RPS' actions were illegal under EU law, the Garda ignored us. We were told that he himself Supt. Gilligan, couldn't stop Shell. That all his powers were concerned with trespassing, and work would go on. This is what we deal with every day, every day we face a complete mockery of justice and the legal system.
As a child my mum constantly reminded me that 'life's not fair', this always perplexed me. I'd think with the clarity of childlike naivity, 'if people make up the world and the majority of the worlds problems, then surely we could make life fair'. It always seemed to me to be a bit of a cop out, like the saying, 'I'm only human'. As if being human is a cosmic loophole, last time i checked i was human. Alright, if you're demanding that I should fly to the moon on the back of a mauve piggy bank, or wrestle an alligator with my earlobes, I might use 'I'm only human' as a legitimate excuse. It's when it gets used as a get out of jail card, when someone can't be bothered, or is selfish, or is any of the many negative factors of the human psyche. When the phrase, 'i'm only human' is used here it shoud really be replaced with, 'I'm a selfish twat', or ' I'm not a nice person' or 'please stick a sharp stick into my genetalia becuase I don't deserve to breed'. 'It's not fair' shouldn't be used as a get out clause, but a call to arms. A statement that should feed a furnace of anger in you, make you stand up and do something, not roll your eyes and flick over to nuts tv but grab a large stick and poke it into the general crotch area of the unfair prick who sparks this emotion.
So, when Supt. Gilligan tells us that we WILL be moved in five minutes time, that's the moment when i put my hand out to my fellow camper and bunk him over the fence, so like a spider monkey he runs up the side of the drill and plants himself on the top, our little lookout, searching for the community liason officer, that we've been looking for over the last 3 weeks. The cops are their normal keystone comedy selves, scuffling and slipping in the mud, shiny soft leather shoes skidding with comical glee. Eoin (pronounced Owen) swings his little legs like a school child on a stool as he is negotiated with. I say negotiate, i mean, asked politly and somewhat desperately to come down. We get the tea and biscuits in, and chat about our day.
(our little spider monkey)
A grand forty five minutes later, after much arguing, pleading and hassling, the crew finally agreed to pack up, if our little spider monkey descended, and he did, so they packed up and left.They have been in trouble for drilling on the S.A.C. Oh they were going to dig elsewhere, in Leana mor, coillte land to be precise, national parkland that is handed over by the council happily to Shell, but what happened there, i'll tell you next time.
As for Eoin, our little drill rig running spiderman.
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