Five local men jailed arising from their protests over the installation of a gas pipeline over lands in Co Mayo went back to prison yesterday after their case was again before the High Court. They have now been in jail for 16 days.
There was no offer yesterday by the men to purge their contempt of a previous court order restraining obstruction with works for the installation of the pipeline.
The court also refused an application for an injunction restraining Shell E&P Ireland from carrying out "any works of installation" on the pipeline, unless or until such works were authorised by an appropriate consent under the provisions of the Gas Act 1946.
The men say the works underway at the moment are not in accordance with existing ministerial consents, while the Shell company insists they are.
At the conclusion of yesterday's hearing, President of the High Court Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan said he could see no sense in the five men remaining in jail.
If they wanted to purge their contempt, it was a matter for themselves, he added, and told the men they could come to court at any time if they wanted to purge their contempt.
He adjourned the proceedings to July 25th, on which date he will assess whether the documents necessary for a full trial of the case at an early date are ready. The judge said he did not want the action to be delayed because of documents.
Supporters of the five indicated outside court afterwards that an initiative by Marine and Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey on Wednesday night to break the deadlock was not sufficient to resolve the situation. Scores of supporters travelled by bus from Co Mayo to be in court yesterday.
The original court order, made on April 4th last, restrained a number of named defendants or anyone with notice of it from obstructing or interfering with the entry by Shell E&P Ireland on to lands for the purposes of "preparation, construction and installation" of the pipeline and ancillary works.
It is submitted on behalf of the protesters that ministerial consent has been given only for preparatory work to be carried out for the pipeline and that no consent has been given for the construction of the pipeline itself. Shell maintains it is not doing anything more than preparatory work.
On Monday, the judge was told the company proposed to put in a proviso that no work be carried out otherwise than in accordance with ministerial consent under the Gas Act and the conditions attached.
The case was adjourned until yesterday to allow time for the protesters to consider that situation.
Yesterday, Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for Shell E&P, repeated that proposal and read out the wording of the proposed amendment.
He said that on Wednesday night, the Minister had made an announcement that he was having a safety review process put in train.
There was no reason for those in prison to remain in defiance of the court order on safety grounds.
Mr Hanratty said the protesters had raised serious questions as to the nature and extent of the works going on.
The company was saying it was in conformity with ministerial consents while the protesters were saying it was not.
Pointing out that those in prison could come back to court at any time to purge their contempt, Mr Justice Finnegan said that he would not be available today but that the judge who ordered them to jail, Mr Justice John MacMenamin, would be available.