A Gas Film That's No Laughing Matter
The controversy about the Corrib Gas Pipeline is the subject of an acclaimed new documentary The Pipe, masterminded by young Irish director Risteard O’Domhnaill
Roe McDermott, 08 Dec 2010
“I fell into TV by accident, I did theoretical physics in college, so it was a bit of a jump!” laughs Tipperary born director Risteard O’Domhnaill. “But I moved to Mayo in 2005, just working freelance really, and the Rossport protests were right down the road. I used to go down every morning, filming a bit and as I spent more time there, I just felt that there was just this sense of real injustice, as these locals had been abandoned by everyone and were being lambasted by the media, so I kept coming back. It was just curiosity really.”
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in this case it gave birth to The Pipe, O’Domnhaill’s compelling film about the Mayo community at the centre of the Rossport Shell to Sea controversy, which erupted in 2005 when Shell Oil began the construction of a natural gas refinery and pipeline through this small rural community. Five local men were famously imprisoned in 2005 for their involvement in the protests, but this was merely the beginning of this David vs. Goliath battle, and it wasn’t until a year later that O’Domhnaill became involved.
“In October 2006 the Rossport locals had made a blockade around the gas refinery. Suddenly one night a huge number of gardaí were moved into the area and set about moving all these people who had gathered around the refinery gate in the dead of night, literally lifting them out of the way. This caused a train of events where every morning the protesters would gather in front of the refinery to block the workers, and it just got very violent and really rough. The gardaí had a policy of no arrests, but that just meant that they had to literally force people to leave. They’d be throwing people in drains, and there’d be batons out and they’d be dragging them along the road. From my point of view, I just thought it was pretty incredible that a small community who had the fecking lowest crime rate in the country were suddenly being classed as bullies and thugs and criminals.”
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