The Irish Times
Friday, September 12, 2008
Shell may call off pipelaying for the winter
PAUL CULLEN CONOR LALLY SHELL HAS hinted it may call off pipelaying operations off the Co Mayo coast for the winter after the boat carrying out the work was damaged. Shell issued a statement yesterday confirming that work on laying the Corrib offshore gas pipeline had been suspended following technical issues on the boat, the Solitaire.
The Irish Times understands a section of the Solitaires pipe-laying apparatus, known as the stinger, became detached. The 100m section was retrieved from the water but will have to be re-attached before the vessel can begin the pipe-laying exercise. It is likely the repair work will need to be carried out in Rotterdam, which may take a few months.
Sources said the stinger was not damaged by protests in the waters around the ship. It is believed it broke off due to adverse weather conditions, including high winds and heavy swell.
The 300-metre boat, the largest pipe-laying vessel in the world, has returned to Killybegs, Co Donegal, where a full assessment of the damage is under way.
The statement continued: At this stage it is not clear what impact the damage to the vessel will have on the 2008 offshore works programme, which would still require a suitable weather window. Shell said it would issue a further update once further information became available.
Local national school principal Maura Harrington last night spent a third night on hunger strike in Glengad.
She told The Irish Times the suspension of pipelaying would make no difference to her protest against the project and she would continue her hunger strike until the Solitaire left Irish waters.
Ms Harrington said she had seen a doctor yesterday, but declined to say whether she had been advised against her action. She said she was taking fluids, but no food, since 6pm on Tuesday.
Asked if she would end the hunger strike if Shell suspended pipelaying for the rest of the year, she said she did not trust the company and would have to read it in print and hear it from the Solitaires owner, Allseas.
A spokesman for Allseas, which has its headquarters in Switzerland, confirmed Ms Harrington had written to the company last month warning that she would go on hunger strike if its vessel began laying pipes in Irish waters. He declined to comment further.
Ms Harrington, who is due to retire from her teaching post when she turns 55 next week, said she was due to be working this week, but added: I think going on hunger strike counts as a tinneas pearsanta [sick leave].
© 2008 The Irish Times
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0912/1221138436546.html
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
