A week after the five Mayo men opposed to the Corrib gas onshore pipeline were released from prison, supporters of the men have said they are "deeply concerned" over the commitment to dismantle the illegally welded section of pipeline.
Shell E&P Ireland had said several days ago that it would begin dismantling the pipeline this week - over two months after the Minister ordered it to do so.
However, last night the company said it was following a schedule agreed with the Minister, under which "essential environmental works" at the terminal site would take priority over the pipeline dismantling.
The Shell to Sea campaign says it will co-operate with the essential environmental work, while construction of the €900 million project remains suspended. However, it says a timeline is required and it questions the commitment of Shell and the department to breaking up the pipeline.
The company said it would comply with the ministerial order, but had been prevented from gaining access to the Rossport site to do dismantling work on August 16th last and on "numerous other occasions".
The Shell to Sea campaign has said the company had never made it clear it required access for this work, and if it had done so it would have been facilitated.
Difficulties between Shell representatives and the campaigners over the past two days in relation to general access issues appeared to have abated yesterday evening, when both parties confirmed a modus operandi had been agreed.
Shell says it agreed to allow two observers from the Shell to Sea campaign to accompany it on site, and has taken out advertisements in the local press in relation to its activities.
"We've done everything we can to inform the public of what we are doing," a company spokeswoman said. However, the company said at no stage would it be "shutting down" the sites, as sought by the Shell to Sea campaign.
In a separate development, the department says it will not engage in three-way mediation with Shell and the Erris community on the pipeline.
The five men had called for the department to become directly involved in the negotiations, speaking after their release last Friday from prison.
"The agreement on mediation as a way forward was between Shell and the five men concerned," a spokeswoman for Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey told The Irish Times. "The department said they would facilitate mediation and we will do that."
The Minister told the Dáil earlier this week he would have a list of possible mediators ready by this weekend for the two sides to consider. A separate two-day public consultation on the Minister's safety review is being held next week in Erris, but the five men have said they will not participate as the terms of reference are too narrow.
