Daily Herald (Utah): Irish farmers’ arrest instigates protesting
Sunday 25 September 2005
ROSSPORT, Ireland — Five farmers from these wind-swept coastal boglands have been locked up in a Dublin prison for nearly three months for blocking construction of a $1.1 billion natural gas pipeline and refinery by the Shell oil group, a standoff that has forced suspension of the largest energy project in Irish history.
The imprisonment of the group known here as the Rossport Five, which includes a 65-year-old former schoolteacher, has sparked protest marches across Ireland and an emotional debate about the pace and balance of economic development in a once-poor county that has become one of Europe’s greatest success stories.