SIR - The government’s blank cheque deal with multinationals must be firmly placed on the political agenda in the upcoming general election.
Dick Spring’s assertion that the fiscal terms granted to oil and gas multinationals by the corrupt politician Ray Burke amounted to “an act of economic treason” suggests that Dail corruption hasn’t stagnated.
The lucrative slashing of the oil industry corporation tax from 50 per cent to 25 per cent by Bertie has proven irresistible for Shell.
Their exploitation of our natural resources will have rich rewards.
We urgently require an ‘independent review’ into these flawed licensing terms to reveal the truth behind this fiasco. A review would surely be more appropriate and cost effective, to the woolly deployment of McDowell’s parachute regiment at an approximate cost of •185,000.00/ week.
Naïvely, I used to think that the Gardai were there to “defend and uphold the rights of citizens”; strange how a bus teeming with Gardai on the margins of Shell’s money-spinning enterprise contrasts with the lack of Gardai in crime black-spots.
Shell’s profit should not be prioritised over our communities or environment. Its recently declared •19.5 billion profit coupled with the arrogance that comes with it, all dictates that it need not even bother to develop a sea-based gas refinery. The old tactics are the best!
The fact that Norway owns a 25 per cent stake in ‘Corrib gas’, with a claim to 34 per cent of gas revenue is shameful.
The opposition leader Enda Kenny’s lack of interest in this grave issue to underpin his opinion of government incompetence, speaks volumes.
Norway’s first-class free health service will benefit by billions from our natural resources.
Is there a politician in Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or the PD’s, capable of justifying this farce?
Adrian Nally,
Castlebar friends of ‘Shell to Sea’.
