The farmer who turned crusader to save Rossport
The Rossport Community led by Willie Corduff and his four friends are fighting Shell and the Irish Govt to protect the environment and the health of the community in Rossport, Mayo County in Ireland.
The Rossport Community led by Willie Corduff and his four friends are fighting Shell and the Irish Govt to protect the environment and the health of the community in Rossport, Mayo County in Ireland.
In 1996, the Corrib gas fields were discovered on the northwest coast of Ireland in Mayo County. A partnership between Shell Oil, Irish government owned Statoil Exploration and Marathon International Petroleum was formed to develop the gas field and meet upto 60% of Ireland’s demand for natural gas.
The problem was that Shell decided on an action plan that would involve building a high pressure gas pipeline that would go criss-crossing the fields and houses of the farmers in Rossport. In fact, in some places, the pipeline would be just 200 metres from the houses. In other places, the pipeline would be running parallel to the road, just 90 metres away.
The high pressure gas pipeline posed a serious risk to the lives of the people living in the surrounding areas. It could burst anytime. The pressure inside the pipeline was going to be four times more than similar pipelines that Shell had installed in Ireland and other parts of the world. Worse, the pipeline was going to be built on slippery, boggy land that was vulnerable to landslides. Shell was planning to stabilize the marshy bog using methods that had not been tried out before. Plus, emissions from the refinery would pollute the Carrowmore Lake which was a major of drinking water for the Rossport community.
What were the profits going to be like for Shell and partners from the project? More than US$60 billion. Shell and it’s partners would have gone ahead with their plan to build the pipeline but for the fact that a group of five heroic Rossport saviors stubbornly refused to allow Shell into their land.
These five Rossport saviors led by Willie Corduff were then arrested and jailed for 94 days. That’s when the entire community came forward to support the Rossport Five as they began to be called. The Shell to Sea Campaign is the Rossport community’s heroic struggle to protect their land, their health and their environment.
Today, Willie Corduff and the Rossport Community’s efforts have gained recognition and support from many parts of Ireland and concerned environmentalists from all over the world.
Willie Corduff was awarded the Goldman prize this year for his efforts to protect Rossport and the community.
Willie Corduff was awarded the Goldman prize this year for his efforts to protect Rossport and the community.
In this interview Willie Corduff candidly shares his experiences, his viewpoints and most importantly, he narrates how the Rossport Five faced Shell and the Irish Govt, about their days in jail...and how the entire community came forward to support him.
This photo was taken when Willie Corduff and his wife Mary had just landed at Knock Airport, Ireland. You were born and brought up in Rossport. What was Rossport like during your childhood?
This is how the coastline near the proposed pipeline site looks like
Beautiful, beautiful, I always say it was a simple easy going place, lovely place to live in, everything clean, clean water, clean air, a place where everyone would want their kids to be brought up. The neighbours were close to each other, eve
rything like that you know, that’s the memory we have of Rossport.Look at this estuary! Isn't it lovely? The proposed pipeline was to cut across this place.
Rossport was a very, very, beautiful place with rivers, lakes, estuaries, fish, birds, you name it, everything was in Rossport, so I mean you just couldn’t, you couldn’t see that being changed anyway.
It’d be a shame to destroy it. It’s about one of the only places left that isn’t destroyed. It’s got a low population density. Everybody knew each other and every one was related if not through birth through marriage. Rossport was that, that type of a place.
When Shell announced that they were setting up a high pressure gas pipeline that would run right through your farmland, what was your first reaction?
Oh! Well I mean, just stunned. Really! How could they think about doing something like that in a small little community like ours. That too, a high pressure gas pipeline running beside the houses! Well, I thought this just cannot happen.
When did you first hear the pipelines would be going through your land?
In 2000.
When did they plan to actually put the pipeline through?
It’d be a shame to destroy it. It’s about one of the only places left that isn’t destroyed. It’s got a low population density. Everybody knew each other and every one was related if not through birth through marriage. Rossport was that, that type of a place.
When Shell announced that they were setting up a high pressure gas pipeline that would run right through your farmland, what was your first reaction?
Oh! Well I mean, just stunned. Really! How could they think about doing something like that in a small little community like ours. That too, a high pressure gas pipeline running beside the houses! Well, I thought this just cannot happen.
When did you first hear the pipelines would be going through your land?
In 2000.
When did they plan to actually put the pipeline through?
This is the land through which Shell's proposed pipeline was going to criss cross
Well, the whole thing was supposed to be up and running by 2003. So, I mean it dawned on me straight away that it had to be a disaster like that, you couldn’t you know, install something so high pressured. Even though they didn’t tell the people at the time that it was such a high pressure, they just said, “a gas pipe”, so they didn’t really tell the pressure that was going to be in it.
So, that’s really how the people got conned, you know the people that did except they figured that, well maybe it was the same as what was in Dublin or Cork. They went as far as telling them that, some of them took it to be nearly the same as a water pipe. So I mean that’s the kind of awareness that was there about it.
When the Shell officials started exploring your land, how did you handle the situation?
Well, I suppose looking back on it I suppose I handled it good, when I didn’t kill some of them. I mean when someone comes onto your land and doesn’t even ask you like, just goes in, tells you they are going in, I mean you don’t do something like that to people, we’re living in a different world maybe a hundred years ago, that you might think about doing somethin
g like that when people were more afraid.
But then again I’d say they nearly had more of a chance now than then because the old people really adored the land and you didn’t abuse their land because it was all they had got to live off, so they really took good care of it and they wouldn’t like to see anybody destroying it.
The first officials came to show me where they where going digging trial holes. So he didn’t ask, he almost figured it was his land and not mine. That’s what really made me aware, if I wanted to go on somebody’s land or get into somebody’s land, the first thing I’d do is ask them, " Could I do it? ". I mean he didn’t even ask, he just told me he was going to do it.
Why was Shell so stubbornly refusing to go in for a safer and environment friendly offshore system? It would have been so much cheaper for the company in the long run and saved them a lot of adverse publicity?
Well, that we’re still wondering about, that I still wonder about, like why when they saw the opposition at the beginning and I told them at the beginning myself, that they would never do it the way they were planning on doing it. Whatever I’d have to do, I told them at the beginning, I would do to stop them.
I suppose they figured a bit of money was going to solve the problem. It did with some but they couldn’t figure out how small people wouldn’t take the money in a community that was starved for money.
Some people thought this would do no harm and they’d get a few quid out of it, and Shell probably thought that thi
s was going to satisfy everybody not thinking of the love we have for the land, or the place. Some people have more love for their land than other people; they just couldn’t figure it out.
And I have told them so often that they’d never do it the way they are planning on doing it. You’d wonder why they didn’t go to sea and when they had the expertise of doing it at sea, which they have, why they didn’t do it that way, it’d be up and running now.
Well, I suppose looking back on it I suppose I handled it good, when I didn’t kill some of them. I mean when someone comes onto your land and doesn’t even ask you like, just goes in, tells you they are going in, I mean you don’t do something like that to people, we’re living in a different world maybe a hundred years ago, that you might think about doing somethin
g like that when people were more afraid.But then again I’d say they nearly had more of a chance now than then because the old people really adored the land and you didn’t abuse their land because it was all they had got to live off, so they really took good care of it and they wouldn’t like to see anybody destroying it.
The first officials came to show me where they where going digging trial holes. So he didn’t ask, he almost figured it was his land and not mine. That’s what really made me aware, if I wanted to go on somebody’s land or get into somebody’s land, the first thing I’d do is ask them, " Could I do it? ". I mean he didn’t even ask, he just told me he was going to do it.
Why was Shell so stubbornly refusing to go in for a safer and environment friendly offshore system? It would have been so much cheaper for the company in the long run and saved them a lot of adverse publicity?
Well, that we’re still wondering about, that I still wonder about, like why when they saw the opposition at the beginning and I told them at the beginning myself, that they would never do it the way they were planning on doing it. Whatever I’d have to do, I told them at the beginning, I would do to stop them.
I suppose they figured a bit of money was going to solve the problem. It did with some but they couldn’t figure out how small people wouldn’t take the money in a community that was starved for money.
Some people thought this would do no harm and they’d get a few quid out of it, and Shell probably thought that thi
s was going to satisfy everybody not thinking of the love we have for the land, or the place. Some people have more love for their land than other people; they just couldn’t figure it out.And I have told them so often that they’d never do it the way they are planning on doing it. You’d wonder why they didn’t go to sea and when they had the expertise of doing it at sea, which they have, why they didn’t do it that way, it’d be up and running now.
We have made a lot of money for them I suppose. I mean that’s 7 years ago and gas was pretty cheap and it’s getting dearer all the time so they’re losing nothing really no matter what work they have done on the refinery anyway. It’ll cost them nothing. They are losing nothing. It’s the people of the area that’s losing more than them.
What about the possibility of future expansion?
Well it’s looking that way, there has to be something, something we don’t know that Shell knew. They have 600 acres up there. You don’t go getting 600 acres if you only need 100, so. I’d say there will be refinery after refinery up there, or they thought there would, there will be nothing there hopefully, because they are not going to get away with doing it like that…
Despite facing severe harassment, your strategy all the time has been peaceful, non violent protests? Has Mahatma Gandhi been a big influence in your life?
Well that’s what we wanted, to have it peaceful. We just tried to get the message across peacefully to Shell. I don’t know, it’s not really working. We are 7 years peaceful and we’re still trying to get the message across. They are still not listening so I don’t know if it’s as if they are waiting for a war to erupt here, you know I think it is.
We have been peaceful for 7 years now, which is a long time. We are getting abused by Shell and by Guards (the state police are called the Guardai) and by everyone. We still haven’t retaliated, as you could say. We’re still peaceful but how long that peace is going to last is just as you know, it's to be told.
You cannot be peaceful forever if there is somebody walking over you, trampling over you. You have to draw the line somewhere, so I think that day is coming close, the peaceful end to it is coming close to an end as far as I’d be concerned.
We’ve kept it peaceful for a long, long time which is more reason why Shell should listen to us now. They are not going to get away with it the way they are going on, it’d be time they listened to us.
Note from Aron: About the Gandhian influence : One of the Rossport 5 men has a son-in-law who often quotes Gandhi. The Rossport Solidarity Camp is based along non-violent direct action principles.
The Rossport Five's struggle and the Shell to Sea Campaign will now be cited as a useful case study for students of environmental studies? What advice do you have for young people?
The advice I have for young people is let them not be walked on. Just don’t give up. You don’t give up when you are put in a corner. The most time when you think you have to give up don’t give up. Because it has come to that stage in our lives that we cannot give up, when our government nor anybody are not protecting us so at the end of the day you have nobody to protect you, only yourself.
So the advice I give the young people is don’t be put aside by these big boys. I tell young people to go ahead and just make their own statement and do what they think themselves is right, in their own mind. If they think it’s right and they are doing what’s right, let them keep doing it.
Don’t just be told that you are stopping progress or you are this, that or the other. Because these big boys will all tell you that to get the better of you. That’s the advice I’d have for students or anybody that's fighting anything like this. Keep it peaceful as long as they can but don't let them be walked over.
You and your four friends were forced to spend 94 days in prison? Would you like to share your experience? At that time, did you feel that it would be possible to fight Shell and the Irish Govt at all?
Well there were days that we thought No! There were days we figured Yeah! You know, I mean it was a terrible experience for us, for people that were never before in a court house. I know I wasn’t and I don’t think the other four were either.
I mean to be brought to court and to be sent to jail for protecting your home and your family, it’ll never leave your mind. So, that’s why I say, you can never be walked on because the government didn’t protect us. We thought they would, we went as far and we thought the government was going to step in and protect us but it’s how they stepped out and let us be put to prison.
Even we have heard since, that Dempsey (a government minister) said the biggest mistake that he had made was not to have separated them and put them into separate prisons. Well he was supposed to have said that, that they would have broke us faster but No! That wouldn’t have broke us. It wouldn’t have broke me, anyway, because if I was to be in there still I’d have been in there.
They tried to scare us, they tried to do everything to us, and it didn’t work. Prison is a comical place. Lots of things come to your mind in there, will you give up or what will you do? But at the same time when you have people backing you on the outside it makes a huge difference and that’s where we really got the backing of the people, when we were put to prison. That’s when the people came out behind us, which was very, very good for us to have so much support. That's because we got an indefinite sentence so without the people's support we could have been still in there. We could be in there for
years, for what we knew was doing the right thing, it has been proven now that we done the right thing.
So you just don’t give up after a few days in there. It's not a nice place to be but we had the support of the prisoners so it was a different thing to being in there for doing something else, it might not be as nice, but when all the prisoners were supporting us it made it that much easier for us to wait in there.
If someone said to me 10 years ago you’ll go to jail I’d have been laughing at them
Aron's note: The Rossport 5 could have pledged not to interfere or prevent Shell from placing the pipe through their land and they would have been released from jail but they refused.
During your struggle did you get any help from all the world famous environment protection organizations and eminent people?
What about the possibility of future expansion?
Well it’s looking that way, there has to be something, something we don’t know that Shell knew. They have 600 acres up there. You don’t go getting 600 acres if you only need 100, so. I’d say there will be refinery after refinery up there, or they thought there would, there will be nothing there hopefully, because they are not going to get away with doing it like that…
Despite facing severe harassment, your strategy all the time has been peaceful, non violent protests? Has Mahatma Gandhi been a big influence in your life?
Well that’s what we wanted, to have it peaceful. We just tried to get the message across peacefully to Shell. I don’t know, it’s not really working. We are 7 years peaceful and we’re still trying to get the message across. They are still not listening so I don’t know if it’s as if they are waiting for a war to erupt here, you know I think it is.
We have been peaceful for 7 years now, which is a long time. We are getting abused by Shell and by Guards (the state police are called the Guardai) and by everyone. We still haven’t retaliated, as you could say. We’re still peaceful but how long that peace is going to last is just as you know, it's to be told.
You cannot be peaceful forever if there is somebody walking over you, trampling over you. You have to draw the line somewhere, so I think that day is coming close, the peaceful end to it is coming close to an end as far as I’d be concerned.
We’ve kept it peaceful for a long, long time which is more reason why Shell should listen to us now. They are not going to get away with it the way they are going on, it’d be time they listened to us.
Note from Aron: About the Gandhian influence : One of the Rossport 5 men has a son-in-law who often quotes Gandhi. The Rossport Solidarity Camp is based along non-violent direct action principles.
The Rossport Five's struggle and the Shell to Sea Campaign will now be cited as a useful case study for students of environmental studies? What advice do you have for young people?
The advice I have for young people is let them not be walked on. Just don’t give up. You don’t give up when you are put in a corner. The most time when you think you have to give up don’t give up. Because it has come to that stage in our lives that we cannot give up, when our government nor anybody are not protecting us so at the end of the day you have nobody to protect you, only yourself.
So the advice I give the young people is don’t be put aside by these big boys. I tell young people to go ahead and just make their own statement and do what they think themselves is right, in their own mind. If they think it’s right and they are doing what’s right, let them keep doing it.
Don’t just be told that you are stopping progress or you are this, that or the other. Because these big boys will all tell you that to get the better of you. That’s the advice I’d have for students or anybody that's fighting anything like this. Keep it peaceful as long as they can but don't let them be walked over.
You and your four friends were forced to spend 94 days in prison? Would you like to share your experience? At that time, did you feel that it would be possible to fight Shell and the Irish Govt at all?
Well there were days that we thought No! There were days we figured Yeah! You know, I mean it was a terrible experience for us, for people that were never before in a court house. I know I wasn’t and I don’t think the other four were either.
I mean to be brought to court and to be sent to jail for protecting your home and your family, it’ll never leave your mind. So, that’s why I say, you can never be walked on because the government didn’t protect us. We thought they would, we went as far and we thought the government was going to step in and protect us but it’s how they stepped out and let us be put to prison.
Even we have heard since, that Dempsey (a government minister) said the biggest mistake that he had made was not to have separated them and put them into separate prisons. Well he was supposed to have said that, that they would have broke us faster but No! That wouldn’t have broke us. It wouldn’t have broke me, anyway, because if I was to be in there still I’d have been in there.
They tried to scare us, they tried to do everything to us, and it didn’t work. Prison is a comical place. Lots of things come to your mind in there, will you give up or what will you do? But at the same time when you have people backing you on the outside it makes a huge difference and that’s where we really got the backing of the people, when we were put to prison. That’s when the people came out behind us, which was very, very good for us to have so much support. That's because we got an indefinite sentence so without the people's support we could have been still in there. We could be in there for
years, for what we knew was doing the right thing, it has been proven now that we done the right thing.So you just don’t give up after a few days in there. It's not a nice place to be but we had the support of the prisoners so it was a different thing to being in there for doing something else, it might not be as nice, but when all the prisoners were supporting us it made it that much easier for us to wait in there.
If someone said to me 10 years ago you’ll go to jail I’d have been laughing at them
Aron's note: The Rossport 5 could have pledged not to interfere or prevent Shell from placing the pipe through their land and they would have been released from jail but they refused.
During your struggle did you get any help from all the world famous environment protection organizations and eminent people?
Well, probably we got more support from individual people than from organizations. I don’t think these organizations knew what was going on. It’s only now they realize what is going on with the message getting out from everybody, what is happening here. I mean they probably weren’t that interested in it and didn
’t know what was happening but it’s only now we are getting support.
Community support for the Rossport 5
’t know what was happening but it’s only now we are getting support.Community support for the Rossport 5
From different communities and different counties we got great support when we were in jail but apart from that people just wonder, well what is going on down there. But a lot of people have come to the area since and have seen how beautiful the area is and they just don’t want it to be destroyed no more than us, so, that is gaining more support for us. 
Micheal O'Seighin, Brendan Philbin, Philip McGrath, Willie Corduff, and Vincent McGrath released from jail
We have big, big support all over the world not just in Mayo and other counties. We had great support from other counties when we were in jail, we had brilliant support which made it easier for us, I mean when you see people from Cork and Clare and Limerick and you name it…writing in.
We have big, big support all over the world not just in Mayo and other counties. We had great support from other counties when we were in jail, we had brilliant support which made it easier for us, I mean when you see people from Cork and Clare and Limerick and you name it…writing in.
We got 230 cards in one day. I mean that was 230 people that sent them and several of them were signed by maybe 10 people or 20 people
So I mean that’s what really kept us in jail.
The people of Ireland supported you strongly. Do you feel there is space for environmental campaigners in mainstream Irish politics?
Well there probably is, that would be up to the green party. They are supporting us at the moment, we have received a recognition from them in the last few days, that they are supporting us, which they should be.
They were quite quiet in the past with a few notable exceptions, but Trevor Sergeant now (the leader of the Green Party) has come out, he supported us to a certain extent but you'd feel that he wasn't going putting his neck out there for us.
There were days you'd ask what is he at? Is he just wanting to get into government but he has come out now, whatever it’s worth.
If he's using us for himself we don't know but we make use of it anyway so hopefully, if he did get into government that he would come out and help the people, and help the environment and keep it as it is here in Mayo, clean and healthy.
The people of Ireland supported you strongly. Do you feel there is space for environmental campaigners in mainstream Irish politics?
Well there probably is, that would be up to the green party. They are supporting us at the moment, we have received a recognition from them in the last few days, that they are supporting us, which they should be.
They were quite quiet in the past with a few notable exceptions, but Trevor Sergeant now (the leader of the Green Party) has come out, he supported us to a certain extent but you'd feel that he wasn't going putting his neck out there for us.
There were days you'd ask what is he at? Is he just wanting to get into government but he has come out now, whatever it’s worth.
If he's using us for himself we don't know but we make use of it anyway so hopefully, if he did get into government that he would come out and help the people, and help the environment and keep it as it is here in Mayo, clean and healthy.
What are your hobbies?
Fighting Shell, at the moment and for the last 7 years. Them are my hobbies.
Do you get time for your wife and children? What do your children do?
Willie Corduff greets his family at the airport, medal in hand.
Well, my children are grown up now and they are all working. The last one has gone to work in the last fortnight, the baby as we call her, she's 17 and she's working in the hotel in Belmullet.
So, they are all working. There's five of them working, in Ireland, in Mayo in fact. So let people not be saying there's no employment in Mayo. There's five of them working and none of them are working for Shell. So, I mean there's loads of employment out there for the youth in Mayo at the moment, with hotels, tourism etc.
So let them not be saying the only employment we have is Shell’s employment. There was a fair amount of employment here even before Shell came. All my children are working so I try to spend any time with them that I can which has been very little in the last 7 years.
There's 7 years of our lives destroyed by
Shell, which is hard to forget. You'll never forget it, them 7 years with our family would have been very, very important.
Fighting Shell, at the moment and for the last 7 years. Them are my hobbies.
Do you get time for your wife and children? What do your children do?
Willie Corduff greets his family at the airport, medal in hand.
Well, my children are grown up now and they are all working. The last one has gone to work in the last fortnight, the baby as we call her, she's 17 and she's working in the hotel in Belmullet.
So, they are all working. There's five of them working, in Ireland, in Mayo in fact. So let people not be saying there's no employment in Mayo. There's five of them working and none of them are working for Shell. So, I mean there's loads of employment out there for the youth in Mayo at the moment, with hotels, tourism etc.
So let them not be saying the only employment we have is Shell’s employment. There was a fair amount of employment here even before Shell came. All my children are working so I try to spend any time with them that I can which has been very little in the last 7 years.
There's 7 years of our lives destroyed by
Shell, which is hard to forget. You'll never forget it, them 7 years with our family would have been very, very important.Willie Corduff's wife Mary faces the Guardai
Myself and my wife are some team together so we're nearly all the time together, which is not too bad, bar the 94 days that we were parted. That took us apart for 94 days which never happened to us before. Our life has been ruined as such but at the same time, we have to get on with it and try and fight this together.
Willie and Mary Corduff
What does winning the Goldman prize mean to you? How are you going to spend the money that you've received?
Well winning the Goldman prize, for me, it’s not for me really, as I have said from the beginning. I didn't look for the Goldman prize, I was happened to be picked, so I didn't even know I was picked. It’s for the whole community maybe even for the people that didn't join us, they had some hand or act or part in it.
There's people on the fence which I have discovered since I got the Goldman prize they have come down on our side. I have got cards from people I thought was against me, and we have got phone calls from people that I thought were against us. It has brought out a different view in our minds of the people. I think there's nobody now in this area that wants Shell or wants the gas in the current manner proposed.
I just feel happy about the recognition from all the people that have congratulated me that I thought wouldn't congratulate me. It has brought that out, and that to us is one great thing that I found out, there's nobody turned their back on me. At the moment, they're coming forward and they are congratulating me. That gives us a great hope for the future, so it does.
As for the money, I never went in it for money, I didn't think I was going to get a prize. If I got a plaque it would have done me grand. Nobody can ever say I was there for money because from day one money has never come into it with me.
So, as for how I'm going to spend it, I'm going to spend it in the community, I'm going to try and get more people on our side, if there's anything useful I can do with the money, I'll do it. It'll be a help, it'll help the campaign. Hopefully.
Thank you, Mr Willie Corduff for sparing your valuable time to attend to this interview and sharing your thoughts and your experiences honestly with the Eco-Informatics Centre.
The Eco-Informatics Centre also thanks Shell to Sea Campaigner, Mr Aron Baker for coordinating this interview with Mr Willie Corduff.
Aron Baker is 29 years old and has been involved in the campaign full time since August 2005.
Here's a note from Aron about his involvement with the Shell to Sea campaign and life at the camp.
In June 2005, the Five men were jailed. That’s when the issue became national news and many people became aware of it. Through social and environmental contacts the issue started getting more community support and public participation.
I am a construction engineer by trade but realized there is more to life than making money. So, I gave up my work as I could not do both and currently live on my savings. I have also in the past been involved with anti-war stuff and Palestine issues.
As part of my involvement I live at the Rossport Solidarity Camp which was established to allow activists who wish to help and work on the campaign to have somewhere to stay. It is a temporary camp but has all the basics to be called home, running water, and some electricity.
We have tried to make it, as far as reasonably possible, an example of sustainability and low impact. We have a grey water system for treating our water. All the waste generated is recycled or composted.
We are aware that here in Ireland as part of the Western world that we consume far more than our fair share of the world’s resources so we on camp try to live a more frugal life style.
We are here to support the local communities struggle against Shell but in turn the local community helps to support us through donations including turf, food and materials.
There is a link on the Shell to Sea website, http://www.shelltosea.com/ to the camp website, which has more information about the camp.
The photo I have attached is from the day the picket was broken on 3rd Oct 2006, and shows me being carried away by the Guardai (The Irish Police), as about 150 of us were. At that stage the Guardai were reasonably careful but since then have become increasing heavy handed.
Well to be sure the Guardai have hurt plently of people who have been protesting including Philip. I'm not sure about Wille. I had my thumb bent back by Guardai and it was useless for nearly 2 months. Philip had a thumb wrenched also and it was injured for a period of time. One person has been on crutches for 6 months after he was thrown down a steep bank into a drain and over half a dozen people have needed hospital attention after injuries recieved from the Guardai. People have even been struck by Guardai vehicles.
Well winning the Goldman prize, for me, it’s not for me really, as I have said from the beginning. I didn't look for the Goldman prize, I was happened to be picked, so I didn't even know I was picked. It’s for the whole community maybe even for the people that didn't join us, they had some hand or act or part in it.
There's people on the fence which I have discovered since I got the Goldman prize they have come down on our side. I have got cards from people I thought was against me, and we have got phone calls from people that I thought were against us. It has brought out a different view in our minds of the people. I think there's nobody now in this area that wants Shell or wants the gas in the current manner proposed.
I just feel happy about the recognition from all the people that have congratulated me that I thought wouldn't congratulate me. It has brought that out, and that to us is one great thing that I found out, there's nobody turned their back on me. At the moment, they're coming forward and they are congratulating me. That gives us a great hope for the future, so it does.
As for the money, I never went in it for money, I didn't think I was going to get a prize. If I got a plaque it would have done me grand. Nobody can ever say I was there for money because from day one money has never come into it with me.
So, as for how I'm going to spend it, I'm going to spend it in the community, I'm going to try and get more people on our side, if there's anything useful I can do with the money, I'll do it. It'll be a help, it'll help the campaign. Hopefully.
Thank you, Mr Willie Corduff for sparing your valuable time to attend to this interview and sharing your thoughts and your experiences honestly with the Eco-Informatics Centre.
The Eco-Informatics Centre also thanks Shell to Sea Campaigner, Mr Aron Baker for coordinating this interview with Mr Willie Corduff.
Aron Baker is 29 years old and has been involved in the campaign full time since August 2005.
Here's a note from Aron about his involvement with the Shell to Sea campaign and life at the camp.
In June 2005, the Five men were jailed. That’s when the issue became national news and many people became aware of it. Through social and environmental contacts the issue started getting more community support and public participation.
I am a construction engineer by trade but realized there is more to life than making money. So, I gave up my work as I could not do both and currently live on my savings. I have also in the past been involved with anti-war stuff and Palestine issues.As part of my involvement I live at the Rossport Solidarity Camp which was established to allow activists who wish to help and work on the campaign to have somewhere to stay. It is a temporary camp but has all the basics to be called home, running water, and some electricity.
We have tried to make it, as far as reasonably possible, an example of sustainability and low impact. We have a grey water system for treating our water. All the waste generated is recycled or composted.
We are aware that here in Ireland as part of the Western world that we consume far more than our fair share of the world’s resources so we on camp try to live a more frugal life style.
We are here to support the local communities struggle against Shell but in turn the local community helps to support us through donations including turf, food and materials.
There is a link on the Shell to Sea website, http://www.shelltosea.com/ to the camp website, which has more information about the camp.
The photo I have attached is from the day the picket was broken on 3rd Oct 2006, and shows me being carried away by the Guardai (The Irish Police), as about 150 of us were. At that stage the Guardai were reasonably careful but since then have become increasing heavy handed.
Well to be sure the Guardai have hurt plently of people who have been protesting including Philip. I'm not sure about Wille. I had my thumb bent back by Guardai and it was useless for nearly 2 months. Philip had a thumb wrenched also and it was injured for a period of time. One person has been on crutches for 6 months after he was thrown down a steep bank into a drain and over half a dozen people have needed hospital attention after injuries recieved from the Guardai. People have even been struck by Guardai vehicles.
Photo Credits :
Willie Corduff (Portrait), The Rossport Five the day after their release from jail, Willie and Mary Corduff - William Hederman
Willie Corduff - On His Land in Rossport and Willie on a ridge near the pipeline site -
John Antonelli
The coastline near the proposed pipeline landfall site in Rossport, Estuary photo, land through which Shell's proposed pipeline would run through, The Rossport Five: Micheal O'Seighin, Brendan Philbin, Philip McGrath, Willie Corduff, and Vincent McGrath - Willie and Mary Corduff
All the remaining photos have been taken by Eve, Niall and, Aron Baker
If you would like to know more about how Shell functions in other parts of the world too, please read this press release from Friends of the Earth
The reports are titled:
- The Great Corrib Gas Controversy
- The Proposed Corrib Onshore System - An Independent Analysis
