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I relands financial worries are over. In a sen-sational move, the Minister for Finance hasannounced that the money has been found to
reverse all recent health and education cuts,scrap the pensions levy and invest in a mas-sive job creation programme.
The Government is going to boost excheq-uer earnings by hundreds of billions of euroover the coming decades by redraftingIrelands disastrous oil and gas licensing laws.This money has been there all along, but theGovernment was allowing multinational oilcompanies to keep it all, Minister BrianLenihan said.
The Minister revealed that the inspirationhad come to him while passing a protest out-
side his office. Theyhad a banner abouta 420 billion oil
and gas giveaway. Ithought, that wouldsolve all our financialproblems.
My civil servantsreminded me that RayBurke had made abizarre deal with theoil companies 20 yearsago. If Ireland werenow licensing the
extraction of its oil and gas in the way othercountries do or the way we did up to 1987 the exchequer would indeed earn hundredsof billions of euro.
The oil companies wont be happy aboutthis, but the licensing terms allow theGovernment to change the conditions in cer-tain circumstances so theyll have to accept it.People in Ireland need the money more thanthe multinationals shareholders do.
No, unfortunately this story isnt true. Butit easily could be. Royal Dutch Shell,Statoil, Exxon Mobil and other global corpo-rations will be taking billions of euro out ofthe country in the next couple of decades. Inother countries they would have to give themajority of this money to the State, but not in
Ireland. In 1987, then Minister Ray Burke,later jailed for corruption, abolished theStates 50% share and all royalties.
Three wards in Crumlin childrens hospitalwere closed recently because of a 9.6 milliondeficit. The value of our offshore fields is43,750 times the cost of keeping those wardsopen. It is 300 times the money that will beraised from the public sector pensions levy.
The current Government could insist on anew deal. Instead it has spent as much onpolicing opposition to Shells rip-off of theCorrib Gas as it has tackling gangland shoot-
ings in Dublin. Dozens of campaigners havebeen assaulted and over 100 arrested.
Most Irish media are not reporting TheGreat Oil and Gas Giveaway, partly becauseTony OReilly, who owns much of the media,also owns an oil exploration company. As wehave no other way to tell you the real story,Shell to Sea has printed more than 100,000copies of this leaflet and is distributing it allover Ireland. Please read it and pass it on toneighbours, friends and co-workers, becauseit is only when we all stand together that wecan stop this robbery of our resources.
420 billion is...300times the annualpension levy
Ireland strikes it rich:all cuts to be scrapped
INSIDE:
Why this storycould be true
The shockingdetails of theGreat Oil &Gas Giveaway
What you cando to stop it
Irelands economic woes would be solved, were it not for a dodgy deal done by Ray Burke in 1987
Irelands offshore oil & gas worth 420,000,000,000+
Someday IndependentPublished byDublin Shell to Sea
262,000times ateacherssalary for40 years
840,000times the costof providingan extra acutehospital bed
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We gave the Corrib gas awayand now Eamon Ryan is intenton giving away the remainingchoice areas of our offshoreacreage at less than bargainbasement pricesEconomist Colm Rapple
14/12/08 (www.colmrapple.com)
Many of the facts in this leaflet may be new toyou. Why have you not heard them from themedia? Why are politicians not stopping thegiveaway of our valuable natural resources?Over the past 20 years Shell has spent largesums of money to win friends to help them steal
billions of euro worth of these resources. Theseallies include journalists, politicians and Garda. Those who oppose Shells seizure of our gashave come under attack from these establish-ment figures.
Paul Williams, who made a TV3 documentarysmearing the campaign, was a guest of Shell atthe 2007 England v Ireland rugby match inCroke Park. He and other crime correspondents,notablyJim Cusack at the Sunday Independent,
rely on Garda for theirstories. This is why theywrite sensational butun-founded scare sto-ries to undermine thecampaign and justifygarda violence. TheSunday Independentand most of our news-
papers are owned by TonyOReilly, who also ownsProvidence Resources. Thisoil and gas exploration firmwill soon be trying to bring
gas ashore from the Dunquin field off Kerry: theoutcome of the dispute in Mayo will directlyaffect OReillys profit margin. His newspapersregularly smear the campaign.
Bertie Ahern and Ray Burke were among thepoliticians who changed the law so that Irelandno longer takes a share in its own gas. GreenParty TD Eamon Ryan was an active campaignerwith Shell to Sea, but since 2007 he has beenthe Minister implementing the Corrib project.
Hundreds of Garda have been drafted intonorth Mayo to harass and beat protesters.Recently it was revealed that petrol companyTopaz which operates the stations selling Shellpetrol sponsors the Garda GAA club.
Finally, Shell has hired a range of influential fig-ures as community liason and external advi-sors, including former Garda chief superin-tendent for MayoJohn Carey; former MayoNews editor Denise Horan; former
National Union of Journalists presi-dent Christy Loftus and formerFianna Fil national executive mem-ber Colin Joyce. They all report to John Egan a former RT and BBC journalist, now a director of ShellIreland.
Friends in theright places
Vast quantities of gas and oil have been discoveredunder Irish waters in the Atlantic Ocean over thepast 15 years. The Governments figures put thevalue of these reserves at420 billion(420,000,000,000), but this is a very conserva-tive estimate. The real figure is likely to be muchhigher, especially as the global price of oil and gasrises (see explanation below).
So what will the Government be spending thesenew-found riches on? The answer is: Nothing. Thiswealth will be leaving Ireland, thanks to a dealmade between the corrupt Haughey governmentand multinational oil companies. Minister RayBurke (later jailed for corruption) changed the lawin 1987, reducing the States share in our offshore
oil and gas from 50% to zero and abolishing royal-ties. In 1992, Minister Bertie Ahern reduced the taxrate for the profits made from the sale of theseresources from 50% to 25%.
According to respected economist Colm Rapple,the amount of tax paid will be very lowand willnot be paid until many years into the operation of agas or oil field, because the deal allows the compa-nies to write off 100% of costs (even the anticipat-ed cost of shutting down the operation!) beforethey declare the profits to be taxed (seewww.colmrapple.com). In major oil/gas producingcountries, the state takes an average (median) of68% of the value of gas and oil.
While people in Ireland are suffering in a reces-
sion, being told to tighten their belts, to grin andbear the painful cuts to health, education and their
dole, the pension levy, the giant oil companies ofthe world are preparing to remove Irelands valuablenatural resources and divvy up the billions of euroof profits between their shareholders.
So the next time you hear a politician defendingthe Corrib Gas fiasco by mentioning the nationalinterest, remember that Corrib actually representsa net loss to the Irish exchequerof tens of bil-lions of euro.
One of the arguments you sometimes hear indefence of the Great Oil and Gas Giveaway has todo with security of supply the idea that Irelandwill be left without gas if the pipeline from Russia iscut off, and so we need to make it attractive forcompanies to bring gas ashore here. However,
according to Bord Gais, Irelands imported naturalgas supplies are sourced from the North Sea. Thepossibility of gas supplies to Ireland from thesesources being restricted is very remote.(See www.bordgais.ie/corporate)And crucially, Irelandslicensing law givesus no security ofsupply, because itallows the com-panies to exportour gas ratherthan sellit to the Irish
market.
Ministers Ray Burke and Bertie Ahernchanged Irish law in 1987 & 1992 so thatmultinational oil companies:
own 100% of the oil and gas theyfind under Irish waters;
pay no royalties on it;can write off 100% of their costs
against tax, even costs incurredin other countries;
have profits taxed at 25%,compared to an international
average of 68% for oil-producing countries;can export the oil or gas outside Ireland;can sell to Bord Gais at full market rates.
Green Party ministerEamon Ryan hascontinued to issue licences to multinationals onthese terms.
The Great Oil & Gas Giveaway
The 420,000,000,000+Ireland is giving away
*The figures in detail420 billion is a lot of money.However, the true value ofIrelands gas and oil is probablymuch higher. Our figure is basedon the estimate, issued by theDepartment of Communications,Energy & Natural Resources(DCENR) in 2006, that theamount of gas and oil in theRockall and Porcupine basins,off Irelands west coast, is 10BBOE (billion barrels of oil equiv-alent). Based on the averageprice of a barrel of oil for 2009of $60, this works out at $600billion, or420 billion. This doesnot take account of further oiland gas reserves off Irelandssouth coast. The total volume ofoil and gas which rightfullybelongs to Ireland could be sig-nificantly higher. The DCENR hasalso published much higher esti-mates at various times. Also, asthe global price of oil and gasrises in the coming years, thevalue of these Irish naturalresources will rise further.
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Even supporters of the Corrib Gas projectrarely try to defend the outrageously generousterms of Irelands gas exploration laws in pub-lic. Instead they rely on the myth that thedeal, once done, cannot now be changed.Nothing could be further from the truth.
The existing deal already allows Ireland tohalt work on the Corrib Gas field. The licens-ing terms state: The Minister may ... requirethat specified exploration, exploitation, pro-duction or processing activities should cease... in any case where the Minister is satisfiedthat it is desirable to do so in order to reducethe risk of injury to the person ... or damageto property or the environment.
In fact, there is a worldwide trend of govern-ments reclaiming ownership of privatised gasand oil reserves. In 2006 in Russia, the state-owned Gazprom took back control from Shellof the largest integrated oil and gas field inthe world, Sakhalin-2, after Shell wasaccused of breaking environmental laws.
Bolivia nationalised its entire gas industryin 2006. At first, the reactions from the corpo-rations and international markets in bothcases were furious, with dire warnings given
about how the countries would suffer from lostinvestment. But these warnings came to noth-ing: in the end the oil giants simply went alongwith these changes when they realised therewere still enormous profits to be made.
There are many examples of successfulnationalised oil and gas industries. Norwayisone of the best examples of state-controlledextraction of gas and oil. Ironically, a signifi-cant chunk of the Corrib Gas profits will ben-efit the Norwegian people through Statoil, asit is majority-owned by the Norwegian govern-ment and has a 36% stake in Corrib.
Venezuela has begun nationalising theindustry within the past two years. Most
Venezuelans lived in degrading povertythroughout the 20th century, while enormousrevenues from oil and gas went to foreign com-panies and a tiny Venezuelan elite. The govern-ment has redirected oil wealth into publicspending, bringing health, education and digni-ty to the poor.
Even if Irelands gas and oil fields were notnationalised, hundreds of billions of eurocould be raised if Ireland took a similar sharein its own gas to that which applies in othercountries.
A better dealis possible
When the inland gas refinery near Rossport wasproposed in the late 1990s, many local peoplewelcomed the project. But when they did someresearch, they quickly became extremely con-cerned. They discovered this was an experimen-tal project; nothing like it had been tried any-where in the world.
Raw, unprocessed gas would be car-ried at extremely high pressure,directly from under the sea-bed,
through a pipeline in an unstable bog wherelandslides are common.The proposed pipelinefor Rossport is nothing like the gas pipelinespeople live close to in other parts of Ireland: the pressure would be 144 bar, and possiblyhigher, compared to a maximum 5 bar in adomestic pipeline; the gas would still contain chemical impuritiesthat corrode pipes and are highly explosive these are removed at the refinery; it would not contain the odour that alerts resi-dents to a leak this is added at the refinery.
At the Bord Pleanla hearing in June2009 into this onshore pipeline route,Shell consultants admitted that, in the
event of a leak, houses within 230 metres ofthe pipeline could burn spontaneously fromheat radiation and that houses within 171mwould be at risk if the gas pressure was at 144bar (Irish Times, 04/06/09), the reduced pres-sure level Shell was forced to retreat to by earlierprotests. There are about 33 houses within thiskill zone. Also, the pipeline would pass just 1.4metres below fields and roads.
Waste water from the refinerywould flow into CarrowmoreLake, the source of drinking
water for 10,000 people in Erris.Since 2000, local people have been
demanding that the gas is processed atsea, before it reaches residential areas, asis standard practice worldwide. They havenever objected to gas being piped ashorein the normal way.
Why is Shells experimentalpipeline in Mayo so dangerous?
No country in the world givesas favourable terms to the oil
companies as IrelandMike Cunningham, former director,
Statoil E&P Ireland
The giveaway deals forexploration licences were
comparable, in historic terms, withthe Act of Union of 1800, in the way a
dodgy deal can be made to look legitimate"Trevor Sargent, then Green Party leader, 21/11/06
Several countries haverecently changed their laws
to reclaim a greater shareof gas and oil wealth
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The campaign against Shells inland refinery andhigh-pressure pipeline near Rossport in Co Mayohas been long and extraordinary, inspiring com-munities everywhere. Local residents began their
campaign in 2000, adopting the name Shell to Seain early 2005. Tactics have ranged from High Courtactions, planning objections and lobbying politiciansto grassroots campaigning and civil disobedience.
Gas was discovered in the Corrib field, 80km westof Co Mayo, in 1996. An experimental, cost-savingmethod for bringing this gas ashore was proposed:instead of processing gas at sea, as is standard prac-tice worldwide, the plan was to lay an extremely high-pressure pipeline to carry raw, odourless gas throughthe village of Rossport to a refinery built on a shiftingbog.
Despite local opposition, Mayo Co Council grantedplanning permission for the refinery in 2001.Residents appealed to An
Bord Pleanla, whichagreed with residentsconcerns and overturnedthe permission in 2002,describing the proposedlocation as the wrongsite. However, followingmeetings between Shellexecutives, TaoiseachBertie Ahern and An BordPleanla, Shell re-applied and were granted permis-sion for the same location.
InJune 2005, six residents refused Shell access totheir land to work on the pipeline route. Shellresponded by asking the High Court to jail five of
them, which it did for 94 days. People acrossIreland were outraged by the jailings, leading tomajor protests and the release of the Rossport Five.
Shell pressed on with construction. After years offighting through the planning process and gettingnothing but jail sentences in return, in 2005 residentsbegan engaging in civil disobedience. They haltedconstruction of the refinery for more than a year bypeacefully blocking the site entrance. In autumn2006, Garda began breaking up these peacefulprotests, throwing residents into ditches, beatingthem, verbally abusing and threatening them.
Shocked at the Garda violence, people from all
over Ireland came to Erris to stand alongside the res-idents. Human rights groups around the world con-demned the policing of the protests. The SanFrancisco-based Global Community Monitor pub-
lished a report stating: that the behaviour of the gar-dai in Mayo is endangering the safety of people par-ticipating in non-violent protests as well as consis-tently infringing on their civil rights.
In 2007, one of the Rossport Five, Willie Corduff,was awarded the Goldman Prize, the worlds biggestenvironmental prize given to an individual. The prizefounder said of that years winners: Their commit-ment in the face of great personal risk inspires us allto think more critically about what ordinary peoplecan do to make a difference.
In the summer of 2008, Shell made its firstattempt to bring the pipeline ashore, and Gardastarted making large-scale arrests of campaigners.
Fisherman Pat ODonnell,
who continued to fish inBroadhaven Bay duringthe visit of the pipe-layingship, The Solitaire, wasarrested twice while work-ing at sea. The Solitairebecame damaged andwas forced to withdrawbefore the winter storms.
Shell and the IrishState used the winter to prepare a new attempt to getthe pipeline ashore. Local school principal MauraHarrington was jailed twice. In April 2009, WillieCorduff was beaten by masked men inside Shellscompound and required hospitalisation. And in June
Pat ODonnells boat was boarded and sunk by fourmasked and armed men.Many more have been arrested while protesting at
the landfall site on Glengad Beach. When theSolitaire returned in June 2009, 300 garda weredeployed, along with 200 private security staff, twoIrish Navy gunboats and an Air Force plane. Despitethis huge show of force by the State, protests contin-ued and construction work was halted several times.Now the most difficult stage of the experimental gaspipeline lies ahead for Shell, when they try to force itthrough the village of Rossport itself.
The campaign so far
What can Ido to help?From the start this campaign has beenabout ordinary people getting togetherto do extraordinary things. If youd liketo play a part in this growingmovement for justice and change,there are lots of ways you can:
A) Inform yourself, your friends, fami-ly and co-workers. Read up on theissues. For background information:www.indymedia.ie/mayo
www.colmrapple.comroyaldutchshellplc.comwww.corribgas.netwww.shelltosea.comwww.dublinshelltosea.com/info
B) Come to Shell to Sea meetingsThere are Shell to Sea groups inMayo, Dublin, Cork, Galway andelsewhere. You dont need anycampaigning experience. Findcontact details for local groups at:www.dublinshelltosea.com/contact
C) If there isnt a group in yourarea, start one
Other Shell to Sea groups will behappy to share their experience andmaterials to help get you started.
D) Help organise a public meeting/info event in your area:If you would like Shell to Sea tocome to your area and give a talk orshare information, please get intouch. If you know of a suitablevenue and can help with getting theword out beforehand, all the better.
E) Download leaflets, stickers andposters from our website and putthem up in your windows, in your car
or around your area.
F) Write letters to your local papersabout the issue.
G) Contact your TD or councillorandtell them how you feel about the give-away of Irelands gas and oil.
H) Make a donationPayPal: click PayPal button on ourwebsite: www.dublinshelltosea.com
Bank account:Dublin Shell to Sea, Bank of IrelandSort: 900877, A/c # 86560606;
BIC: BOFIIE2D;IBAN: IE35 BOFI 9008 7786 5606 06
You can contact us at:
Tel: 086-7362417
