Shell corrib oil and Comhaltas

So its 7 days since a started this topic and it received 7 replies. So after playing tunes in Tubbercurry last Friday a few of us were looking at the local paper the Sligo weekender a free paper circulated widely around the north west of Ireland.
Its entirely dedicated to the Fleadh, every single page. fair enough
Amazing then that Shell is not mentioned anywhere nor that the logo does not appear on any 32 pages. including the official Comhaltas fleadh poster.

It appears that there is a lot of apathy regarding this Shell Sponsorship , so I ask have we lost our spirit? Or are there other reasons.

Its good to see some of the Great Connacht musicians taking a stand and wanting to be disassociated from the fleadh..

He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation

Well i was really impressed with the nice glossy cce brochure about their fleadh in Sligo.
Very expensive to produce I would say, but sure there is no shortage of money these days. Anyway going through the booklet I see a full page advertisement for Shell Ireland…. Well its beyond belief that an organisation that preports to represent Irish culture can accept sponsorship from a corporation that bullied its way through a rural community in west Ireland , part Irish speaking . How insulting is this to the tradition of an indigenous race. whats next, the GAA who also preports to represent the Irish people , realised there’s a lot of money to be made from sky television.
Money before people and culture but who didn’t know it already..?

# Posted by corncrake one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
Arts organisations often have to turn to other sources of funding now that government & local authority sources are tightening their belts. Sadly this often means companies looking to fulfill their “corporate social responsibility” requirements to offset the damage they may cause elsewhere.

# Posted by Tøm one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
CCE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.

# Posted by John Townsend one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
If people aren’t aware why Shell aren’t very popular in Ireland see this, or Google “The Pipe, Mayo”

http://vimeo.com/8668733

# Posted by peter wsll one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
contact for CCE is Labhras O Murchu is 062 611222, 01 618 4018

# Posted by John Townsend one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
Shell are nasty corporation - Greenpeace are fighting a campaign to stop them polluting the arctic

# Posted by Gromit one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
@corncrake : There just the same as all the other, 1%
Keep the natives form getting restless, and then rip,
the B*$T**D$ OFF !
f4

# Posted by FIDDLE4 one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation
Disgraceful, typical two faced approach displaying lack of principal, thanks for bringing it to notice.

# Posted by Kilcash one week ago.
Re: He who pays the piper calls the Tune …C.C.E and Shell corporation

# Posted by corncrake 23 hours ago.

I think I’d be more concerned about who is “calling the tune” if this were a gathering of, say, climate change scientists.

Like all planning matters, this is a political issue (jobs v disruption). A matter of opinion if you like. Time to move on now, sponsorship is never squeaky clean.

Shell has done a huge amount for the Pullatomas/Bangor/Glenamoy area. Most of the protestors are new age hippie types who protest about anything and everything - illegally squatting on the locals’ lands. Good to see things finally settling down in the area and that the gas will be flowing soon. Its just amazing that Shell put up with all the nonsense to finally see the project through. I know the area very well and the vast majority of local people support the project.

I know the area well and the majority of locals do not support Shell.

Well billy that’s not very nice , sounds like you have issues with sandles.
As usual when someone has the courage to stand up against these organisations they are singled out because of their individuality. I hope you would feel the same if your land was been fracked.
As for the comment …..sponsorship is never squeaky clean, why shouln’t it be ?

I was brought up in the area and still have family there. Most of the locals are afraid to speak up against the protesters for fear of being harassed. It’s easy for those not living there to support a politically correct protest. Are you from the area corncrake?

Billydog, I think you’ll find that those ‘ vast majority of local people (who) support the project’ and who live in the immediate area of the landfall and terminal or who are affected on the fishing territory (Erris inshore fisheries) literally ‘took the shilling’ => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDhfqy4S6hI

play video

And when you say ‘Most of the locals are afraid to speak up against the protesters for fear of being harassed’ you’re making an assumption - whereas it is a fact that those locals who demonstrate against this unprecedented corporate development have been literally beaten off the streets by the forces of the state and shell security and intimidated by both, through the constant video surveillance even in their own homes. http://jasonnparkinson.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/shell_002.jpg

“Billydog, I think you’ll find that those ’ vast majority of local people (who) support the project’ and who live in the immediate area of the landfall and terminal or who are affected on the fishing territory (Erris inshore fisheries) literally ‘took the shilling’”

This really is not true and is just a cheap and emotive argument feeding off our history with the British. There are a lot of ordinary people, who I know personally, who are sick to the back teeth of the protesters and have made no gain whatsoever from Shell (except maybe the improved roads). The local protesters tended to be the better off i.e. the fishermen , local teacher etc. This is one of the most deprived areas in the country which is suffering from chronic depopulation. Shell brought some jobs and economic activity there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgpfy_PB6yU

play video

But why are you surprised Corncrake? The history of CCE is well littered with dubious financial dealings, cute hoorism, dodgy votes and so on. It’s cast in the mould of many similar Irish cultural organisations with deep roots & political connections to a civil war party associated with the ruination of this state’s finances.

Kilcash beat me to it. I was going to say, CCE corrupt? Involved in dubious politics and nepotism? Well, I never…

Undercover policeman married activist after revealing identity
An undercover police officer who began a relationship with a woman he was spying on went on to marry her after revealing his true identity.
Nick Collins

By Nick Collins

6:30AM GMT 20 Jan 2011



PC Jim Boyling is alleged to have begun a relationship with the woman while infiltrating the Reclaim the Streets environmental group under the alias Jim Sutton between 1995 and 2000.

After he finished spying on the group PC Boyling is said to have vanished for a year, but later returned and admitted to the woman that he was a policeman.

They went on to marry and have two children before divorcing two years ago. The Guardian claimed that PC Boyling encouraged the woman to change her name to keep their relationship secret, and only told senior officers he was involved with an activist around the time of their wedding in 2005.

PC Boyling, who is still with the Metropolitan police, is the fourth person to be publicly identified as an undercover police officer deployed among green activists.

He was named by his ex-wife weeks after a political row erupted following claims that another spy, Mark Kennedy, had a number of sexual relationships while undercover with environmental protesters.
Related Articles

Undercover policeman Mark Kennedy’s wife speaks of torment over his ‘activities’
18 Jan 2011

Undercover policeman Mark Kennedy ‘in fear for his life’
15 Jan 2011

Greens ‘infiltrated by 15 undercover police’
16 Jan 2011

Pc Mark Kennedy: double life of undercover policeman in climate group
11 Jan 2011

Power plant protest trial collapses
10 Jan 2011

The undercover officer ‘hoping to make amends’
10 Jan 2011

The woman told The Guardian her story illustrated how the spying operation on the green movement “wrecks lives”, adding: “You don’t expect the one person you trust most in the world not to exist.”

Three separate investigations have been launched into the way undercover operations are run, amid concerns about the accountability of officers and the tactics used to infiltrate groups.

Jim Murphy, national lead officer on serious and organised crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said that for an undercover officer to sleep with someone they were monitoring was “grossly unprofessional” and “morally wrong”.
and just to answer the accusation that the protesters were hippies, it appears that two of the protesters were undercover UK policemen Read more hereAn undercover policeman who infiltrated a group of environmental activists has said he feels suicidal in the first interview since the operation was revealed.

Video: Undercover policeman ‘considered suicide’

Mark Kennedy, a father of two, said his life has become a “living nightmare” and that his son told him he never wants to see him again.

Mr Kennedy’s secret role was revealed when a Nottingham Crown Court trial of six people accused of planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station collapsed as prosecutors dropped the charges.

The protesters’ legal team claimed the decision was made after Mr Kennedy, a former Metropolitan Police officer who infiltrated the group in the guise of a long-haired climber called Mark Stone, offered to give evidence on their behalf.

In an extensive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Kennedy said he believed tape recordings secretly made by him were withheld from the court by police for fear it would destroy the prosecution’s case. He told the paper: “The truth of the matter is that the tapes clearly show that the six defendants who were due to go on trial had not joined any conspiracy. The tapes I made meant that the police couldn’t prove their case.”

Mr Kennedy said he was involved in five major protests, starting with one at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005 when he passed on “invaluable” information to police about demonstrators’ movements. He said it was passed straight to Tony Blair and that he was given a commendation for his role.

He claimed he was beaten by five police officers in 2006 in a protest at Drax power station in Yorkshire after he tried to stop them hitting a female activist he knew. He told the newspaper he suffered head injuries, a prolapsed disc and broken finger. Other protests he took part in included those at Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire in 2006, the G20 summit in London in 2008 and in Copenhagen, Denmark.

He said the fall-out from the undercover operation has left him feeling suicidal. “I am physically and mentally exhausted,” he said. “I have had some dark thoughts. I thought I could end this very quickly. I went to see a psychiatrist recently and told her I was having thoughts of suicide. I don’t have any confidence. My world has been destroyed.”

He also spoke of his despair at being confronted by the environmental activists when his girlfriend discovered his passport – in his real name. Mr Kennedy said the atmosphere at the meeting was “hugely menacing” as he was told his former friends knew the full details of his true identity. He said he fled to the United States soon after that amid fears for his safety.

Investigations into the case are now being carried out by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, with Nottinghamshire Police conducting an internal review.

NEWS UPDATE:

Senior officers have defended the use of undercover operations following claims police withheld secret recordings that would have cleared accused protesters.

The comments by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) come after the trial of six environmental campaigners collapsed on Monday.

When prosecution lawyers first abandoned the case it appeared an undercover police officer who decided he wanted to support the activists had compromised the case.

But it has now emerged the case was scrapped because Nottinghamshire Police may have hidden evidence.

The force is accused of hiding tapes that “fatally undermined” the case against the protestors.

The activists were accused of trying to shut down one of Britain’s biggest power stations – Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire in 2009.

The recordings were gathered by undercover officer Pc Mark Kennedy, who used the guise of a rock climber while monitoring the actions of the environmentalists across Europe.

PC Kennedy, a former member of the Metropolitan Police, is thought to have spent the last seven years as part of the environmental protest movement, and was known to activists as Mark Stone.

Mr Kennedy, who is now jobless and in hiding, has called in PR guru Max Clifford to tell his story.

Independent officials have now launched an investigation into whether police tried to cover up Mr Kennedy’s role.

Nottinghamshire Police has also confirmed they would hold an internal review into the secret operation.

A force spokesman said: “The force has requested the investigation reviews all the elements of policing relating to this case, to establish whether they were carried out in an ethical and proportionate manner, within the expected code of practice.”

The developments have sparked a wider debate on police tactics used to monitor political and environmental groups.

A spokeswoman for ACPO said: “The police service cannot operate effectively to prevent and detect crime unless it uses intelligence.

“The Police Service has an absolute commitment that the gathering and use of intelligence must be necessary, proportionate and lawful.

“Police officers are subject to the law and where they break the law in the course of their activities it will and must be investigated.”

I posted the above in answer to the remark that the protesters were hippies, two of them were uk undercover policemen acting as agent provacateurs.

Thanks for the comments, great to hear musicians not afraid to stand up and say it as it is.
So many talk negative about them when it suits but afraid to in public.
Oh I am not one bit surprised, it would be interesting to know the extent of the sponsorship the clone corporation received from the oil corporation.
Set the music free!!

Surely if this sort of thing bothers you, the answer is to not participate in CCE events. There are plenty of other musical gatherings in and outwith Ireland that don’t come with the politics.

the answer is to contact labhras o murchu and show your disapproval.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/fleadh-cheoil-criticised-for-accepting-shell-sponsorship-1.1889048

So who is going to take the heat, sligo local commitee or the higher command….guess..

http://www.writingsinrhyme.com/index.php/shell-thrown-back-to-sea/#sthash.ShellToSea.dpuf

Resolved?? If this is correct, sponsor money has been returned.

“Shell Corporations sponsorship of the Fleadh Ceol in Sligo has been returned and cancelled, thanks to an excellent campaign at grassroots level across the country, in one of the few times ethics triumphed over income. It shows what people power can do – can we keep it together and oppose fracking? - See more at: http://www.writingsinrhyme.com/index.php/shell-thrown-back-to-sea/#sthash.ShellToSea.dpuf”

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/fleadh-bows-to-pressure-and-gives-money-back-to-shell-1.1889340#.U-JhdHkPXuo

To hell with Comhaltas and to hell with Shell! Comhaltas are gombeens (just like the GAA) who are backing the annexation of Ireland’s natural resources and the attacks on Irish citizens that take place in Mayo by Shell’s thugs, the gardai. Ireland will not receive one cent of the money Shell makes from Ireland’s gas (instead Ireland will buy it off Shell at market value.) Shame on Comhaltas! Shell’s Fleadh should boycotted by all moral people (the first boycott was after all in Mayo, and supporting Shell and Comhaltas is simply to attack Irish sovereignty and the citizens suffering under Shell’s brutal attacks.)