Anton McNulty
ERRIS fishermen have accused the Corrib gas partners of not consulting with them in relation to the use of Ballyglass pier for assembling a jack-up platform which will be used to drill boreholes in Sruwaddaccon Bay.
Last week, Shell E&P Ireland were awarded a foreshore licence by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Mary Coughlan for ‘geotechnical ground investigations’ in Sruwaddaccon Bay, as part of the continuing research work on a modified onshore pipeline route for the Corrib gas project.
A jack-up platform was due to be delivered this week to Ballyglass pier, where it will be assembled using a mobile crane. However, the Erris Inshore Fishermen’s Association have said they were not consulted by Shell or by Mayo County Council regarding the use of the pier. Mr Eddie Diver, Chairman of the Erris Inshore Fishermens’s Association, said that the pier was a working pier and they did not know how much space the platform would take, and if fishermen’s work would be disrupted.
“Shell have not consulted the local people [about the work] and they definitely have not consulted the fishermen. Mayo County Council have allowed them to take over the pier at Ballyglass to assemble a drilling rig and the first I heard about this was at the weekend when I read it in the paper. The fishing season is not yet in full swing but this is a working pier and there are always repairs and other work being done on the boats.
“One of the conditions for the construction of the pipeline was that the Erris fishermen would be kept in touch with any developments and to date we have never received a letter saying this was happening. The least they could have done was inform us how long they expect to be there for, and we could have come to some agreement,” he said.
However, Shell E&P spokesman, John Egan, told The Mayo News that the application for the offshore licence has been in the public domain for several weeks and the public were free to make observations. He also said that the Erris Inshore Fisheries Association are represented on the environmental monitoring group (EMG) and they should have known the Ballyglass pier would be used.
“There was a statutory consultation process, which was advertised in the local press, whereby the public were able to make comments on the process. We are not sure if the fishermen commented on it but if they had issues they should have made their observations through that process.” he said.
Mr Egan said he did not believe the barge on the pier would interfere with the work of the fishermen and stated that work due to begin this week would be delayed due to logistic works.
