Livelihoods:

In his report recommending the refusal of planning permission for the refinery Kevin Moore concluded that the “employment impact of the development on the local community would be insignificant in the medium to long term.” Moore also pointed out that most of the longterm jobs created would be reserved for “specialist skilled persons”. Many livelihoods in the Erris area are based on the clean sea, air and water. Small scale fishing, farming and tourism are some of the main industries employing people in the area. The Corrib Gas Project will jeopardise these livelihoods mainly through the resulting pollution.

Local fishermen have been some of the most vehement opponents of the project. Erris Inshore Fisherman’s Association passed a motion in support of Shell to Sea. The fishermen are demanding that the waste from the outflow pipe from the refinery with is due to discharged into the waters around Broadhaven Bay be pumped back into the well which Shell refuse to do. February 2007 the Erris Inshore Fisherman’s Association lodged an objection to the granting of the IPPC licence to Shell stating: “There are about 150 fishermen and their families who depend on 150 sustainable jobs in or around the waters of Broadhaven Bay for a major part of their income, if not all…Additionally the marine is one of our most important leisure facilities that has potential to, not only augment but to be the mainstay of our tourism industry. ..The loss of economic benefits in the tourism industry, together with the demise of our traditional fishing industry would far outweigh the benefits, if any, bestowed by Shell by virtue of their presence in Erris .”

“For many generations now, [Erris fishermen] have sustained a living from Broadhaven Bay and its surrounding waters…With the advent of Shell, things have changed drastically. They have intruded into our lives, not on any invitation from us but by permission from our administrative authority to exploit and develop the natural resource off our shores for their own benefit, and it seems for their own advantage. They came to us with a very doubtful environmental reputation on a global scale, but we were willing to accept them. We did not mind their intrusion provided it was done gently with dignity and consideration for our needs. Unfortunately, their claims of wanting to be ‘good neighbours’ sounds very hollow in view of their methods and practices since their arrival. We have asked questions of them and got answers that were contemptuous of our intelligence. We have responded to their calls for dialogue only to find out that ‘Dialogue Shell Style’ is that we sit down with them, make out points, accept their explanations and understand they were right all along!! ”

Fritz Schultz, who runs a holiday hostel with his wife in Pollathomais, overlooking the Sruthwaddacon estuary and near the refinery site spoke out at the oral hearing over the negative effect the project would have on the growing tourist industry in Erris: “Holiday makers from all over the world, in particular from the European Continent and last, not least many Irish guests from other parts of this country …came and were enchanted by what they found. We often heard the word paradise. Until now! Until the news of a massive gas project by the multinational company Shell broke. Potential holidaymakers also have an immediate scenario before them when they hear about an area like Erris being targeted for a development like this: all the recreational facilities that were so readily available to them like water sports, walking, nature watching, freedom and safety of movement in the countryside, intact environments, cultural experiences, would be destroyed and with their reason to come here.