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 Wednesday March 15, 2006 20:02 by anarchyvist - Shell to Sea Dublin
A message to Mr Carey...
Residents of Erris will be discomforted to hear that the former Chief Superintendent of the Mayo Garda Síochána, John Carey, has been appointed as a local consultant to the Corrib Gas Project. Carey ‘s new role, which will be part-time, will ‘see him meeting local groups and residents and conveying their hopes and concerns relating to the project to the Corrib management team’ according to last week’s Mayo News. He will, apparently, ‘also be involved in informing people locally about the plans for the project as it moves forward’. Carey’s appointment is fast on the heels of the appointment of two other prominent locals. Journalist Christy Loftus, and former County Secretary, Padraig Hughes now act as ‘external advisors’ to Shell. Both men are in a prime position to influence local opinion and defend the role of Shell in endangering the lives of the local community and ripping off the Irish taxpayer. Carey, a local man from Bangor, resigned his position in the guards in April 2005. He had been Chief Superintendent of the area, stationed in Castlebar for the previous 9 years. He is generally considered to have ‘retired early’. Perhaps he just wasn’t Assistant Commissioner material. He is also a well known Mayo GAA personality. He captained the team to win the National League in 1970 and went on to win All Star honours, becoming Mayo’s first All Star in 1971. Mayo has a strong connection with An Garda Síochàna. The first Commissioner was the delightfully named Mr Michael Staines TD. A native of Newport, he was a 1916 veteran who took part in the war of independence. He was chairman of the committee set up by Collins to establish the new police force and was proposed by none other than Mulcahy as Commissioner. His motto was that ‘the newly formed Guardians of the Peace would succeed not by force of arms but on the Moral Authority of the people’. The very first guard was a Mayoman: Garda Kerrigan was a native of Newport. The first member to be honoured with a Scott Medal for Bravery was James Mulroy a native of Straide. Über cop Commissioner Noel Conroy is from Blacksod. Assistant Commissioners Al Mc Hugh and Nacie Rice are Mayo men too. Oh, and not forgetting former Deputy Commissioner, P.J. Moran. Carey’s new role within his former jurisdiction is a further indication as to the lengths the Shell-led consortium is willing to go to coerce local community acquiescence on this issue. His obvious connection and strong identification with the guardians of the peace is a dangerous development and one which should be resisted by the people. His local knowledge will no doubt be invaluable to the Special Branch, who have been observed in the area in increasing numbers over the past few weeks. Reacting to this development Shell to Sea has said Carey’s appointment is a ‘strategic decision by Shell in an attempt to localise the issue.’ Dr Mark Garavan, spokesman for Shell to Sea, told Padraig Burns of The Mayo News that the decision to appoint Mr Carey, which follows the recent appointments of Loftus and Hughes, did not affect the substantive issue of their campaign. “If you look at the language they [Shell] have been using in their most recent press releases, you can see that they are implicitly conceding that they had lost a lot of trust locally in the area” he told the paper. “Obviously, Shell have decided to take a strategic decision to localise the issue by their appointments in recent weeks, but they have still to address the substantive issue and until that happens we won’t be changing our approach”. “Shell must accept that the project as it stands is not viable and until that happens there can be no change. As it stands they have not indicated any change in their approach, the mediation is still stalled and there is still no sign of it restarting”, he said. Carey’s appointment has been welcomed by both Loftus and local Shell boss Mark Carrigy. Loftus said Carey would bring ‘invaluable local knowledge’ while Carrigy said he was delighted that Mr Carey had agreed to ‘assist the Corrib Gas partners as they work to regain the trust of the people of Erris and Mayo’. So when Carey comes knocking on your door informing you of the plans for the project as it moves forward, tell him as impolitely as you can that Shell isn’t moving forward and will be forced to process the Corrib gas at sea. And then you can perhaps discuss with him his attitude (as an ex-guard) to corruption amongst the business/politician class of this country. But be careful out there, Carey has friends in high places and those boys in the car behind him are probably armed. |
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Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9In a related issue, the High Court judgement on whether the Rossport 5 should be punished or not for their contempt of court in Summer 2005 has been adjourned yet again until Monday 27th March.
Different ways of viewing Carey's use by Shell:
(i) They're following their Nigeria script and Shellspeak about Carey carrying the 'hopes and concerns of the community' to Shell is a euphemism for the standard low-level for low-life bribery and corruption that Shell has practiced in the Delta for the past 50 years
(ii) Shell may continue the Delta parallel by getting Carey to double-job as security 'consultant'
(iii) Shell can spare the few minutes profit of Carey's shilling (€43k) in one more lame duck PR exercise.
personal abuse removed. please note that entire posts may be removed on the grounds of containing personal abuse. if you have something worth posting then it's a good idea not to include personal abuse in the post. thanks. IMC Editorial http://www.indymedia.ie/editorial
Brendan Gilmore Securities, provide security to entire construction project.
Brendan Gilmore is a retired Garda and Progressive Democrat member of Longford Town Council.
Ps previous anon comment meant to go here...
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74831&comment_limit=0&c...42607
The article states:
"Carrigy said he was delighted that Mr Carey had agreed to ‘assist the Corrib Gas partners as they work to regain the trust of the people of Erris and Mayo’".
I wonder then, what is the real intention in recruiting a former Chief-Superindenent and a journalist. Is it really to "regain the trust" or to "manufacture the consent" - i.e. legitimise the destruction.
And a politically charged security company to boot? With links to the ruling Oligarchy? Me smells a rat, a dirty rat.
Mark.
Irish Independent: Shell planning breach claim dismissed
by ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC .COM on Thu 16 Mar 2006 07:45 AM GMT | Permanent Link
THE High Court has rejected a claim that Shell breached a planning condition requiring it to lodge a 20m security for the future restoration of the Corrib gas terminal site.
Mr Justice Thomas Smyth also yesterday dismissed a further claim by environmental activist Peter Sweetman that Shell had breached another planning condition by storing peat deposits on lands owned by the State forestry company Coillte near the terminal development.
Even if there was a "technical breach", the judge said he would refuse Mr Sweetman's orders because of the bona fides of Shell on the planning issues and the delay by Mr Sweetman in bringing his proceedings, which led to Shell incurring financial losses.
Maidir le ceapachaáin Carey do "Team Shell" is docha nar smaoinigh sé go deo, nuair a bhíodh sé ag obair don Stát, go mbeadh sé i ndan chur len a phinseain nuair a rachadh sé ar scór. Seans maith nar smaoinigh Shell ach an oiread go raibh ábhar "Team Shell" i gCarey nó gur scór sé.
O thaobh na "optics", níor chóir go mbeadh iarr-Stáit Seirbhisigh bheith i ndan dul ag obair láithreach i bpost ar nos atá faighte ag Carey le "Team Shell".
Beadh sé suimiúl má raibh daoine sa cheantair sásta chun aon raiméis ó Shell a thogáil. Ní bheadh iontas orm faoi roinnt dena daoine. Tá a lán 'muppets' (daoine a bhfuil sásta chun achan rud a chreidiúint ón Stáit) in Eirinn.
A Chief Superintendent John Carey from Mayo investigated very serious complaints made through the Garda Complaint Board in 2004 by Edward Horgan and Tim Hourigan, in connection with the harassment and arrest of peace activists at Shannon airport, and the failures of the Gardai to do their duties at Shannon airport, and the abuses of their powers by certain Gardai at Shannon.
The Garda complaints board ruled, presumably on the findings of Chief Superintendent John Carey, that the complaints were 'vexacious' and therefore without foundation.
Of course it may be a different Chief Superintendent John Carey altogether.
The Western People interviewed Carey on his retirement last year (link below). Carey was previously in charge of the Loughrea district in Galway, where in 1994 the tragic murders of Imelda Riney, her son Liam and local curate, Fr Joe Walsh occurred. His subsequent deployment to Mayo was seen in some quarters as a slap on the wrist for his ineffective handling of the case.
When in Loughrea, Carey spent an inordinate amount of time needlessly annoying travellers and other folk who had set up home in the hills of south Galway/east Clare. He had a particular bee in his bonnet regarding the growing of cannabis and despite the frequently inclement weather, he was convinced that the plant was harvested in great quantities on his patch. He apparently fancied himself as a leading character out of Miami Vice and was constantly pissed off that his superiors never issued him with a mobile phone (not that the coverage around Scarriff/Woodford was any great shakes in the early '90s). His departure was greeted with some relief in the area and not just by his colleagues in the gardai.
In 1998, Carey involved himself in a bizarre drugs-related case in Castlebar. A 60-year-old mother, Kathleen Stianzi (nee Gaughan) from Ballina was wrongly arrested along with her daughter Rebecca on suspicion of being a drug dealer in 1993 (when Carey was based in Loughrea).
Stianzi later received a formal state apology and used the opportunity to make public allegations against members of the Castlebar gardai and the rather odd manner of her arrest (involving the detention in Castlebar station of her daughter's poodle).
Apropos the state apology, Carey said he was satisfied the couple did not have drugs and were not involved in any criminal activity 'on the date in question'. He stressed Mrs. Stianzi was not assaulted or abused in any way during the course of her detention. She co-operated fully. Her detention was for the purpose of search and was carried out in accordance with normal Garda procedures.
She subsequently made a complaint to the Garda Complaints Board who carried out a full investigation. The Board, obviously enough, found that no member of the Garda was guilty of any wrongdoing. Carey’s intervention was seen as an attempt to ingratiate himself with his new colleagues in Castlebar, where his reputation as a hippy-hating nutter had preceded him.
As Ed Horgan has pointed out above, Carey was himself a senior investigator in the Garda Complaints Board. His role on the Board was highlighted in so-called Silver Bullet module of the Morris Tribunal, when the tribunal was informed of a complaint made in February 1999 against several members of the force. It was not however until the following November that Chief Superintendent Carey followed up with an investigation which could barely be considered half-arsed. The Board deemed the complaint was effectively null and void after McConnell refused to back it up with a signed statement.
Carey subsequently headed more than 20 probes into allegations of harassment and complaints made against the gardaí by the McBrearty family in the late 1990s but it took an independent investigation to try and get the truth out of the various allegations. The Morris Tribunal has yet to get to the bottom of things in Donegal, however the McBrearty family has been vindicated. Several gardai have been transferred elsewhere and a handful dismissed from the force, again this wouldn't have occurred if the complaints had been handled by the Garda Complaints Board alone.
After spending the weekend researching Carey's career in east Galway and Mayo, one odd fact emerges. It was a badly kept secret throughout the late '80s and well into the '90s that the woods which sheltered the unfortunate Brendan O'Donnell were also the location of a substantial arms dump. Likewise, a relatively isolated mountainous region of Carey's Mayo patch was in frequent use as a rifle range by republican militants prior to the first cease fire. Yet there is no record of there being any concerted attempt on the part of the gardai to investigate these matters... This will doubtless come out after a few years when historians will be in a position to objectively assess this rather confusing period of our collective history.
Anyway, this thread was started to point out that Shell are spending inordinate amounts of money buying influential and well placed local people to make their case to the local communities. Nothing wrong with that, some of you are probably thinking. Well you're wrong. The use made by Shell of people such as Carey has a well documented precedent in Nigeria.
While I wouldn't be expecting extra-judicial murders in Rossport just yet, I would be anticipating more of the harassment that Maura Harrington was recently subjected to, where she was followed at night by an unlit car with registration plates and tax disk removed. Harrington managed to stop the car with the help of her husband, apprehending those following her until the arrival of the local gardai. One of the occupants of the car behind her had connections with Brendan Gilmore Securities, the company headed by an ex-guard and PD councillor in Longford which is guarding the Shell compounds in the area.
Let's see how long it will take the guards to act on this one.