Democracy:

The process by which the oil companies gained planning permission for the Corrib Project underlines the extent to which the government acted in a fundamentally undemocratic manner, bypassing the planning process to push the project through. No meaningful consultation was conducted with the affected community at the planning stage of the project. The extent to which the project was viewed as a fait accompli is evident in comments made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at a 21st anniversary celebration of Bord Gáis in early October 2000. At the celebration Mr. Ahern, announced that Bord Gáis and the Enterprise consortium would fund and build a connector pipeline from the Ballinaboy site to the national loop at Galway, this was before the oil companies had even applied for planning permission for the site. [The Great Corrib Gas Controversy, pg 29]

Local Agenda 21
"To ensure that economy and society in Ireland can develop to their full potential within a well protected environment, without compromising the quality of that environment and with responsibility towards present and future generations and the wider international community. In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it. Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens. People are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature."

The lack of meaningful consultation with the receiving community is compounded by the attitude of Shell towards people in the community:

“People before profit is an alien concept to Shell. Shell has been blind to the impact that this project will have on the receiving communities, and deaf to the consistent message from these same communities that that have not given their consent.”
“It’s a terrible reflection on our public representatives that we have voted them into positions of authority and we believed and trusted them to take care of our interests. They have now sold us down the road - they have sold our future and your future Mr Chairman and the future of your children too.” Sean Mc Donnell, Bunowna, at the EPA oral hearing on the IPPC licence.

Changing Laws for the Oil Companies:
The processing model selected by the Corrib consortium (that of an inland refinery, fed by a 9km on land upstream pipeline) created significant legislative problems for the government. Existing legislation did not cover an on-land upstream pipeline network and there was no legislation in place to allow the Minister to provide compulsory acquisition orders (CAOs) for private companies. On the 15th November Frank Fahey introduced SI 517 of 2001 giving the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources powers to grant CAOs for upstream pipelines.

On 10th July 2000 the Government introduced the first stages of a complex series of legislative acts designed to place the gas pipeline outside of the domain of planning through the Gas (Amendment) Act of 2000 which made provision for “a person other than the Board [Bord Gáis]” to construct or operate a pipeline. In September 2000 Bertie Ahern introduced Statutory Instrument (SI) 110 of 2000 transferring regulatory power over “any upstream pipeline network” from the Minister for Public Enterprise (who had responsibility for An Bord Gáis- the gas board) to the Minister for Marine and Natural Resources. In July 2001 Bertie Ahern introduced SI 289 of 2001 transferring powers from the Minister for Public Enterprise to the Minister for Marine and Natural Resources covering all legislation relating to upstream pipeline networks.

In November 2000 Enterprise Oil applied for planning permission to Mayo County Council and submitted an Environmental Impact Statement. Mayo County Council initially granted planning permission for the project on 3 August 2001. Rossport residents appealed the decision to the planning board. In the meantime, the Government took the unprecedented step of allowing private companies the right to issue Compulsory Acquisition Orders (CAOs). In December 2001 Enterprise representatives began knocking on doors and sending letters to landowners asking them to grant permission for the pipeline in exchange for compensation. As well as individual farms, the pipeline route also passed through a commonage (commonly owned land).

Meetings Between Government and Big Oil:
On 6th August 2003 the CEO of Shell E&P, Mr Walter van de Vijver, wrote to the Taoiseach requesting a meeting. On 19th of September 2003 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met with Tom Botts, CEO of Shell E&P Europe, Andy Pyle of Shell E&P Ireland and Rosemary Steen of Enterprise Energy Ireland along with the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, and other department officials. The assembled ministers assured Shell that that An Bord Pleanála and Mayo County Council would treat the application with priority. On the 23rd September 2003 a meeting was held between An Bord Plenála’s top officials and Corrib developers under the banner of the Irish Offshore Operators Association. Lobbying and Deals with the Oil Companies: During the mid seventies when Justin Keating was formulating his terms to safe guard Irish oil and gas the oil industry were also organizing. The Irish Offshore Operators Group, later the Irish Offshore Operators Association (IOOA) was formed in the mid seventies as a lobbying force for industry interests.
The oil companies donated money to the political parties in power. In 1998 Enterprise Energy bought a table in the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races. The tent at the Galway Races is a fundraiser for the party and an opportunity for developers and business people to gain access to politicians.[40] In 1997 Marathon Oil, a partner in the Corrib consortium contributed £10,000 to Fianna Fáil. The involvement of Ray Burke in changing the terms is of particular significance. Subsequent to his appointment as Minister for Energy in 1987 Burke began negotiating with the oil companies, occasionally meeting directly with executives in the absence of his department officials. Mr Burke was later found by the Flood Tribunal to have received a number of corrupt payments during the late 1980s and in 2004 he pleaded guilty to charges of making false tax returns.

Planning Permission Granted:
On the 17th December 2003 Shell resubmitted its planning application to Mayo County Council . Rossport residents made a new submission to the Council opposing the project. Permission, however was granted on the 30th April 2004. Residents appealed to the Planning Appeals Board but on the 23rd October 2004 permission was finally granted.
The activities of the Corrib Gas consortium in Ireland, the manner in which they have approached the Corrib Project and their interactions with the community in Erris are framed by the Irish State. In this context the case is illustrative of the subordination of the Irish State to corporate power, visible in the way in which the State has facilitated the oil companies every juncture prioritizing their demands over the needs of communities in Ireland. This facilitation and prioritization of the oil companies is visible in various aspects of the Corrib Project from the fiscal and licensing terms governing hydrocarbons to the manner in which laws were changed specifically for the project; the process by which the oil companies acquired planning permission; and the role which the police have played in ensuring work continues on the project despite robust opposition from community organizers in the area and their supporters.

The systematic blocking of public participation.
The negation of public participation goes back as far as the original planning application for the refinery which was made by the TNC's in November 2000. Several hundred people signed various objections to the planning application. A circular from the Department of the Environment in 1996 states 'that all County Councils make correspondence on planning matters available for photocopying, except plans and drawings which may be copurighted'. This applies whether a planning project is pre or post decision.
Mayo County Council, the local planning authority, refused to allow members of the public to make photocopies of any submission or objections on file, even though the files may be photographed, dictated or read down a phone. This is in direct breach of the departmental circular, even though the order was brought to the attention of the Council staff by the office of the local radio station, Midwest News. Entreprise Energy Ireland, Shell's fore-runner, were given photocopies of the files by Mayo County Council and everyone else was refused. Also, the written submissions from the 'notifiable bodies' were not placed on the file until the planning application was granted. The public and the media were refused access to examine these submissions before planning permission was granted.
A senior official with the Department of the Marine, Michael Daly, said he saw no reason why the public was denied access to the submission made by the Department of the Marine. But only a few hours later, after he received a phone call from Mayo County Council, Mr. Daly changed his mind and said that the Council could treat the submission as an internal document. Several people complained to the local radio station that the contents of the planning file changed constantly as time went by.
The planning office of the local authority, Mayo County Council, as just a physical location served as a good symbol for the typical interaction the public administrative body that is making the decision and the people it is meant to serve. And the planning office is 50 miles away from the locality affected by the decision, so anybody wanting to go there had to make a round trip of a hundred miles minimum only to be refused the very information they sought.