’Dreary steeples’ in Erris

“The general impression in Erris is that the Glinsk proposal is unrealistic, even outlandish. It is about as likely to happen as Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Erris United in next season’s Mayo Super League”

Second Reading
Fr John Hegarty

IN 1922 Winston Churchill stated wearily, albeit majestically, in the House of Commons, that while the political landscape of Europe had been changed by the first World War, the problem of Northern Ireland remained insoluble. “Then came the Great War: every institution, almost, in the world was strained. Great empires have been overturned. The whole map of Europe has been changed. The position of countries has been violently altered. The modes of thought of men, the whole outlook on affairs, the grouping of parties, all have encountered violent and tremendous changes in the deluge of the world.
“But as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again. The integrity of their quarrel is one of the few institutions that has been unaltered in the cataclysm which has swept the world. That says a lot for the persistency with which Irishmen on the one side or the other are able to pursue their controversies.”
I detect a similar sense of weariness about the opposition to the Corrib gas project in Erris. For the ‘dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone’ read Bellanaboy and Glengad. The high watermark of opposition to the project in the summer of 2005, largely an emotional response to the jailing of the Rossport Five, has long dissipated.
Even the protesters sometimes seem weary of the whole affair. There are now long periods of sullen calm, interspersed occasionally by squalls of activity, the most recent of which was caused by the arrival, for a short interlude in Erris waters, of the Solitaire, the pipe-laying ship.
I know that there are sincere people whose lives have been consumed by the passion of their opposition to the project. They may find it hurtful to read this but I sense that most people in Erris have tired of their activities.
The majority accept that Shell has got legal consent for the construction of the terminal at Bellanaboy. They expect that planning permission for the onshore pipeline will eventually be given.
They recognise that economic benefits from the construction of the terminal are percolating throughout the Barony of Erris, offering a cushion against the recession that is affecting the rest of the country. They believe that the right of people to work on the project or provide services to it should be respected. They hold that the Gardaí are not lackeys of Shell but upholders of the democratic law, as is their duty.
As Shell have so far satisfied the requirements of Irish and European environmental law, they assume that the project is safe. The alternative is to live in a world of obsessive suspicion of everyone and everything and they do not wish to go there. They have lives to lead, jobs to go to, children to rear and games and concerts to attend.
Since I last wrote on this topic in November 2007 there has been a split in the Shell to Sea movement. A new group, Pobal Chill Chomáin, has been formed. It has freed itself from the increasingly empty mantra of Shell to Sea. This group proposes that the terminal should be located in the coastal area of Glinsk. The proposal first surfaced in a letter from the priests of Kilcommon parish to Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Natural Resources, last November.
Members of Pobal Chill Chomáin are probably disappointed that the proposal has met with little positive response. It has hardly caused a ripple in the waters. It is as if a sponge rather than a stone was cast in the sea.
May I respectfully suggest that Pobal Chill Chomáin has invested this proposal with a significance it is unable to bear. I know that the priests were motivated by their responsibility for the pastoral care for the Catholic community of the parish, which, of course, includes those who support and oppose the gas project. However, as priests their academic competency lies in theology, Canon Law and liturgy. Being able to wade studiously through the intricacies of the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas does not qualify one as an expert on the location of gas terminals. I have to say that the general impression in Erris is that the Glinsk proposal is unrealistic, even outlandish. It is about as likely to happen as Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Erris United in next season’s Mayo Super League.
As Pobal Chill Chomáin has escaped from the straitjacket of requiring that the terminal be located at sea, perhaps its members might look at the prospect of advancing further on the road of compromise. It would be a pity if the Glinsk proposal became another absolutist claim; Shell to Sea in another jersey.
Why not accept that Shell has got legal consent for the project so far and enter negotiations with the company and the relevant government agencies? Surely it is possible to agree on a group of independent experts who would monitor the safety of the project in its construction and operation. The protesters can already take the credit that the project is now safer than the one originally envisaged by Enterprise Energy Ireland.
In negotiations a comprehensive programme for the development of the social, cultural, educational and economic infrastructure of Erris could be drawn up, to which Shell would be expected to respond generously.
Compromise is not weakness or failure. Take Sinn Féin for example. After the failure of the hunger strikes in 1981, its leaders reassessed its political strategy. They realised that the gruesome tactic of hunger striking was a busted flush. They learned the language of consensus and are now in government in Northern Ireland. They freed themselves from the tyranny of absolutist claims.
Is there a role for government here? I think so. Perhaps the Minister for Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, might consider sending a special envoy to meet with Shell, Pobal Chill Chomáin, Shell to Sea, the Erris Pro-Gas group, local politicians and other community leaders to ascertain is any way forward out of the present morass? The search for honourable compromise must always be part of the democratic process.