Locals opposed to the Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo today said they were refused entry to a hotel, by security guards, where representatives from Shell Oil were discussing the project with interested parties.
Former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok is among a high-level delegation from Royal Dutch Shell's board which is canvassing local opinion in north Mayo on the €900 million Corrib gas project.
The delegation, representing Royal Dutch Shell's social responsibility committee, will also meet western TDs in the Dil during its two-day visit to Ireland.
"Despite receiving no invitation some individuals decided to go and talk with the delegation anyway; to let them know their safety concerns," said Shell-to-Sea spokeswoman Maura Harrington.
Although campaigners had not been invited, five of whom spend two months in jail over their protest, they said there would be no point to the meeting ahead of mediation with company due to begin soon.
However the company said it was "disappointed that an invitation to the non-consenting landowners to meet with the board members was declined."
Independent TD Jerry Cowley has been at the forefront of the anti-pipeline campaign, and he said no representative of anti-pipeline groups had been invited to have talks with the company.
"If they did want to seriously address the safety concerns and issues, well then they should certainly be outlining who they're going to meet," he said.
"It would appear that people have been contacted who are very much pro the gas, this is seen as a softening of the ground before a final onslaught to impose their will.''
In a related development, the final report by Advantica consultants on the safety of the project's high-pressure onshore pipeline has been given to Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey, but the Minister has deferred plans to publish it until he receives advice on its recommendations.
The anti-pipeline campaigners say they have serious concerns about the safety and about the scope of the Advantica report.
The key recommendation in the report - that the pipeline's pressure can be capped at 144 bars - "cannot be technically guaranteed", the campaign says. It refers to analysis published last month by US company Accufacts Inc for the privately funded Centre for Public Inquiry that stated no pipeline was impervious and no valve could be fail-safe.
"The only guarantees of safety are to ensure, first, a safe proximity from the pipeline to nearest houses and people, and second, that no production pipeline traverses populated areas," the campaign says.